![]() You rarely get something absolutely chemically pure in nature.” Mineral formation is a chemical reaction. “There are little bits of all sorts of minor components. Rocks are made up of many different minerals mixed together, and gemstones are particularly structurally perfect pieces of mineral crystals.Īlthough minerals are classified based on their ideal “pure” composition and form, “we’ve got to recognize that nature has 80 some different elements to play with,” Rossman says. ![]() Nonetheless, most mineralogists agree that their study objects are solid compounds formed by natural processes and characterized by a single chemical composition and crystal structure. Is that mineral or is it a biological material?” he asks. But he says even that definition can sometimes get “fuzzy.” “If a tree decays and leaves some crystalline material behind. Minerals are “considered to be naturally occurring, inorganic solid substances,” Rossman explains. And the coolest part is, their shining colors and otherworldly fluorescence are all thanks to a few small tweaks and imperfections. “All the colors of the rainbow occur in minerals,” and more, says George Rossman, a mineralogist researching mineral spectroscopy at the California Institute of Technology.īeyond the striking displays that we see by daylight, many minerals glow with hidden colors under ultraviolet rays. And they come in more hues than you can imagine. There are thousands of recognized minerals out there ( 5,703 to be exact) with many more yet to be discovered. But even when minerals aren’t assembled into a majestic mountain range or keeping the human body running, they’re still pretty neat. They form rocks, strengthen our bones and teeth, and even allow our blood to carry oxygen. Minerals are the non-living building blocks of the natural world. The Sterling Hill granite slab on display at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) glows under longwave ultraviolet light.
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