1: Introduction
- Page ID
- 17510
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- Minerals make up just about everything on our planet and are important for maintaining our lifestyles.
- Minerals in rocks or sediment make up the material we walk on and form the foundations for buildings and other structures.
- Mineral resources have long been used by people; today they are keys to modern agriculture and industry.
- The knowledge gained by studying minerals has wide ranging applications.
- Most minerals are naturally occurring homogeneous geological substances that are stable at Earth-surface conditions.
- Minerals are inorganic compounds and are crystalline solids.
- Non-crystalline materials, synthetic minerals, biological minerals, and anthropogenic minerals are not, in general, considered to be true materials.
- We generally classify minerals based on their chemical compositions and atomic arrangements.
