Life's Fuel + Earth's Makeovers.

These two topics were discussed by my classmates, in two pairs, who reported Resources and Weathering, respectively.

Every living thing needs sustenance. Food, shelter; these are just some of the things that man and animal alike need. But for humanity, there are far more resources needed for survival in today's modern day and age: fuel, electricity, and much more.

Resources are substances or objects required by living things for growth, reproduction and maintenance. There are two main type of resource: renewable and non-renewable.

• Resources are considered renewable when the supply of the resource exceeds the need for it, or rather, when it is able to replenish in a short span of time. Water, wind energy, solar energy and heat energy fall under renewable resources, some of which are considered perpetual because they can be easily replaced immediately or continuously.
• Non-renewable resources cannot reproduce or sustain its rate of consumption and, once depleted, may no longer be available for future needs. Fossil fuels and nuclear power are part of this category.

---

Sometimes, you see unusual rock formations, or beautiful hills, and the like. Most likely, those were the result of a process called weathering. Weathering is the breaking down of rocks, soil and minerals through contact with the Earth's atmosphere, but not to be confused with erosion, which involves movement.

• Mechanical Weathering occurs when rocks break down without change to their chemical composition. Essentially they are torn by physical force. Frost weathering is often the cause of weathering and falls under this category.
• Chemical Weathering, in a slow process, gradually transforms minerals when water comes into contact with them, as the new secondary mineral adapts to the near surface environment.

There are various factors that affect the process of weathering. Physical features of the mineral and climate are two of those factors.

That's about it for week three. Stay tuned for more Earth Science craziness. :)

Rocking. (Pun intended)

This blog post has been brutally delayed due to unforeseen circumstances...in fact tomorrow's the next meeting for our class. LOL! Anyways, our last meeting was about minerals and their properties. A mineral is a naturally-occurring solid chemical substance found through biogeochemical processes. To be considered a mineral, it must be solid and have a crystalline structure.

Minerals are composed of elements. There are over 100 elements that can be found listed on the Periodic Table today. The study of minerals is called mineralogy.

There are six mineral groups in all:

1. Silicates - Silicon and oxygen combine to form a structure called the silicon-oxygen tetrahedron. This silicon-oxygen tetrahedron provides the framework of every silicate mineral.
2. Carbonates – Minerals that contain the elements carbon, oxygen, and one or more other metallic elements.
3. Oxides – minerals that contain oxygen and one or more other elements, which are usually metals.
4. Sulfates and Sulfides – Minerals that contain the element sulfur
5. Halides – Minerals that contain a halogen ion plus one or more other elements
6. Native Elements – Minerals that exist in relatively pure form

All minerals have properties. Each of them have a unique mix of properties that differentiate them from other minerals.

1. Color - small amounts of different elements can give the same mineral different colors.
2. Streak – is the color of a mineral in its powdered form.
3. Luster – is used to describe how light is reflected from the surface of a mineral
4. Crystal form – is the visible expression of a mineral’s internal arrangement of atoms
5. Hardness - is a measure of the resistance of a mineral to being scratched.
6. -Mohs scale consists of 10 minerals arranged from 10 (hardest) to 1 (softest).
7. Cleavage - is the tendency of a mineral to cleave, or break, along flat, even surfaces.
8. Fracture - Minerals that do not show cleavage when broken fracture.
9. Density - is a property of all matter that is the ratio of an object’s mass to its volume.

Essentially, everything is made up of atoms of elements. Minerals are no exception. The atom is the most basic, simplest unit of matter, which is made up of a nucleus of protons and neutrons, encircled by electrons. More in depth explanations can be found on the Wiki article link.

1. Ionic bonds are when one atom releases an electron to another atom to achieve a stable electron configuration, and the electrostatic attraction bonds the two atoms.
2. Covalent bonds, instead of the transfer of an electron, shares the same electron to attain a stable electron configuration.
3. Metallic bonds are much like covalent bonds, in that two atoms share an electron, but this time between two metallic atoms.

Atoms bond due to electromagnetic force, somewhat like how batteries work; they only work if both the positive and the negative are connected. There are three kinds of atomic bonds: