Earth Sciences 1070A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Carbonate Minerals, Volcanic Glass, Valence Electron

• School: Western University
• Department: Earth Sciences
• Course: Earth Sciences 1070A/B
• Professor: Natalie Pietrzak- Renaud

Document Summary

Mineral: naturally occurring, inorganic, solid element or compound with definite composition and regular internal structure. Neutral charge and protons = positive charge: orderly array of atoms chemically bonded to form certain crystalline structure, minerals form = atoms bond ionic, covalent, or metallic, ionic bond. Formed when positive charged atom and negative charged atom attracted to each other. Ionic and covalent usually occur in same compound: metallic bond. Valence electrons free to migrate among atoms. Oxygen = most abundant element: then silicon, aluminum, and iron. Most abundant found in majority of minerals. Solid solution: 2 or more ions of similar size and charge may be substituted more or less interchangeably for each other in same mineral structure, ionic substitutions controlled by size and charge. Mg, fe, mn, ca = similar size and charge: commonly substitute for one another. Bc minerals = solid solution: ionic substitution can occur in a mineral structure.