Author Question: Based on the definition of a mineral, which of the followinggold, liquid water, synthetic diamonds, ... (Read 33 times)

shofmannx20 · **on:** Jul 14, 2018

Based on the definition of a mineral, which of the followinggold, liquid water, synthetic diamonds, ice, and woodare not classified as minerals?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Define the term rock. How do rocks differ from minerals?

What will be an ideal response?

nguyenhoanhat · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 14, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Wood is not a mineral because it is organic. Synthetic diamonds are not naturally occurring, so they too would not be considered minerals. Water is liquid, so it is not considered a mineral; however, its frozen counterpart, ice, would be. Thus, only gold and ice are considered minerals from this list based on the definition provided in question 1.

Answer to Question 2

A rock is a solid aggregate of minerals or of mineral-like matter. Rocks may have a single mineral composition (such as marbleformed only of the mineral calcite) or a multimineral composition (such as graniteformed mainly of quartz, orthoclase, plagioclase, and biotite), or be made of nonminerals (such as coalformed from heated and compressed plant matter, or pumice, which is formed from volcanic glass). Minerals, by contrast, have a very specific definition.