ERS120H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Conchoidal Fracture, Feldspar, Covalent Bond
Document Summary
Because of the chemical composition and structure and the material. Start with a basic building block, the silica tetrahedral (the fundamental building block for quartz) Covalent bond: atoms share electrons to make themselves more stable. The silica covalently bonds with 4 oxygen molecules. Shape of the molecule: tetrahedral (four sides) Oxygen is only uses one of its spaces to bond with silicon and has another free space. Tetrahedrals join each other and make a 3-d framework. Every single bond in a quartz mineral is an equally strong covalent bond, which is why we get a conchoidal fracture when we break it. Properties of quartz: 6-sided crystal form, uneven fracture, hard, strong, durable. The atoms that are in the earth are going to be the building blocks of the earth. The earth gets more dense as we move to the center of the earth because. 100% of oceanic crust there is more iron in the core.
