Sally M. Walker - Marveling at Minerals

Marveling at Minerals Sally M. Walker

Copyright 2013 by Sally M. Walker
All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the
prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of
brief quotations in an acknowledged review.
Lerner Publications Company
A division of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.
241 First Avenue North
Minneapolis, MN 55401 U.S.A.
Website address: www.lernerbooks.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Walker, Sally M.
Marveling at Minerals / by Sally M. Walker
p. cm. (Searchlight booksDo you dig earth science?)
Audience: 811
Includes index.
ISBN 9781467700221 (lib. bdg. : alk. paper)
1. MineralsJuvenile literature. 2. RocksJuvenile literature. 3. Mineralogy
Juvenile literature. I. Title.
QE365.2.W352 2013
549dc23 2012010392
Manufactured in the United States of America
1 PC 12/31/12

Contents

WHAT IS A
MINERAL? ... page

DESCRIBING
MINERALS ... page

HOW DO MINERALS
BECOME ROCKS? ... page

Chapter

WHAT IS A
MINERAL?

Minerals are amazing.
We use them to build houses.
We use them to make jewelry.
We even write with a mineral. But
what is a mineral?

We use minerals to write.
How else do we use
minerals?

A mineral is a substance found in nature. Minerals
are solid. They are not alive, like plants and animals are.
Earth has more than thirty - five hundred different kinds
of minerals.

THIS MINERAL IS CALLED
GRAPHITE. GRAPHITE IS USED
IN PENCILS.

Atoms

Minerals are made of atoms. Everything in the world
is made of atoms. Atoms make up trees, clouds, rocks,
books, and you. Atoms are very tiny. Billions of atoms
could fit on the dot over the letter i. There are many
different kinds of atoms.

Atoms make up
rocks such as these.

Some minerals are made of only one kind of atom.
Gold is a mineral made only of gold atoms. Another
mineral, called silver, is made only of silver atoms.

Only one kind of atom
is in this piece of gold.

Most minerals are made of two or more kinds of
atoms. Some atoms pull on one another. When they
do, the atoms can bond. Bonding is joining together. A
mineral forms when certain atoms bond. Bonding holds
the atoms tightly together.

This mineral is called
calcite. It is made of
three kinds of atoms.

A mineral called halite is made from atoms called
chlorine and sodium. Halite is found in many places.
Most people call halite by another name. They call
it salt !

This is halite. Halite is salt.
You might find it on your kitchen table.

Graphite and diamond are minerals. Both graphite and
diamond are made only of carbon atoms. But graphite
and diamond look nothing alike. Why dont graphite and
diamond look alike?
Graphite and diamond dont look alike because their
atoms are arranged in different ways. The atoms inside
each mineral are packed together in a certain way. Every
mineral has its own special arrangement of atoms.

The mineral on the left is
graphite. The mineral on the
right is diamond.

In graphite, the carbon atoms are arranged in flat
sheets. The sheets can break apart easily. This makes
graphite soft.
In diamond, the carbon atoms are arranged in a way
that makes them stay tightly together. This makes
diamond hard.

The picture on the left shows carbon atoms in graphite.
The picture on the right shows carbon atoms in diamond.

Graphite

carbon
atoms

weak
bonds

strong bonds

Diamond

carbon
atoms

strong
bonds

Crystals

A minerals atoms can make shapes called crystals. A
crystal gets its shape from the way the atoms inside it
are arranged. Crystals have smooth, flat surfaces and
sharp edges.
Crystals can
be many different
shapes. Some
crystals are long
and have pointed
ends. Others
are shaped like
cubes.

These crystals
have long shapes.

Crystals need room to grow. Crystals can become
very big if they have lots of open space to grow. Crystals
can grow even bigger than you !
But most crystals stay small. They dont have enough
room to grow big. Sometimes many crystals are packed
tightly together. The flat surfaces squeeze into one
another. You cannot see the different crystals anymore.

These crystals have
grown very big.

Chapter

DESCRIBING
MINERALS

Minerals come in many
different colors. They can be
hard or soft. They can be many
shapes and sizes. Describing minerals
helps us to identify them.

This piece of quartz
looks pink. But quartz is
not always pink. Do you
know why?

Describing a minerals color may be easy. But color
is not the best way to identify a mineral. A mineral may
not always have the same color. Sometimes different
atoms get trapped inside a mineral when it forms. These