4 Things That Define Minerals

4 Things That Define Minerals In the field of geology, you will often hear a variety of terms including the word mineral. What are minerals, exactly? They are any substance that meets these four specific qualities: Minerals are natural: These substances that form without any human help.Minerals are solid: They dont droop or melt or evaporate.Minerals are inorganic: They arent carbon compounds like those found in living things.Minerals are crystalline: They have a distinct recipe and arrangement of atoms. Despite that, though, there are still some exceptions to these criteria. Unnatural Minerals Until the 1990s, mineralogists could propose names for chemical compounds that formed during the breakdown of artificial substances...things found in places like industrial sludge pits and rusting cars. That loophole is now closed, but there are minerals on the books that arent truly natural. Soft Minerals Traditionally and officially, native mercury is considered a mineral, even though the metal is liquid at room temperature. At about -40 C, though, it solidifies and forms crystals like other metals. So there are parts of Antarctica where mercury is unimpeachably a mineral. For a less extreme example, consider the mineral ikaite, a hydrated calcium carbonate that forms only in cold water. It degrades into calcite and water above 8 C. It is significant in the polar regions, the ocean floor, and other cold places, but you cant bring it into the lab except in a freezer. Ice is a mineral, even though it isnt listed in the mineral field guide. When ice collects in large enough bodies, it flows in its solid state thats what glaciers are. And salt (halite) behaves similarly, rising underground in broad domes and sometimes spilling out in salt glaciers. Indeed, all minerals, and the rocks they are part of, slowly deform given enough heat and pressure. Thats what makes plate tectonics possible. So in a sense, no minerals are really solid except maybe diamonds. Other minerals that arent quite solid are instead flexible. The mica minerals are the best-known example, but molybdenite is another. Its metallic flakes can be crumpled like aluminum foil. The asbestos mineral chrysotile  is stringy enough to weave into cloth. Organic Minerals The rule that minerals must be inorganic may be the strictest one. The substances that make up coal, for instance, are different kinds of hydrocarbon compounds derived from cell walls, wood, pollen, and so on. These are called macerals instead of minerals. If coal is squeezed hard enough for long enough, the carbon sheds all its other elements and becomes graphite. Even though it is of organic origin, graphite is a true mineral with carbon atoms arranged in sheets. Diamonds, similarly, are carbon atoms arranged in a rigid framework. After some four billion years of life on Earth, its safe to say that all the worlds diamonds and graphite are of organic origin even if they arent strictly speaking organic. Amorphous Minerals A few things fall short in crystallinity, hard as we try. Many minerals form crystals that are too small to see under the microscope. But even these can be shown to be crystalline at the nanoscale using the technique of X-ray powder diffraction, though, because X-rays are a super-shortwave type of light that can image extremely small things. Having a crystal form means that the substance has a chemical formula. It might be as simple as halites (NaCl) or complex like  epidotes (Ca2Al2(Fe3, Al)(SiO4)(Si2O7)O(OH)), but if you were shrunk to an atoms size, you could tell what mineral you were seeing by its molecular makeup and arrangement. A few substances fail the X-ray test. They are truly glasses or colloids, with a fully random structure at the atomic scale. They are amorphous, scientific Latin for formless. These get the honorary name mineraloid. Mineraloids are a small club of about eight members, and thats stretching things by including some organic substances (violating criterion 3 as well as 4).

The Names of Colors in Italian

The Names of Colors in Italian You want to tell your friend the color of the Vespa you want to buy, the type of wine you were drinking, or the hue of the sky while you were on a hilltop in Florence, but how do you say the colors in Italian? To start, here are the most common thirteen along with a list of subtle and unique  blends. Basic Colors Red – Rosso Lei porta sempre un rossetto rosso. - She always wears red lipstick. Pink – Rosa Ho comprato un vestito rosa per la festa. - I bought a pink dress for the party. Purple – Viola Ho dipinto le unghie di viola. - I painted my nails purple. TIP: Unlike other colors, you don’t have to change the ending of â€Å"rosa† or â€Å"viola† to match the object it’s describing. Orange – Arancione La sua macchina nuova à ¨ arancione ed à ¨ troppo sgargiante per i miei gusti. - Her new car is orange, and it’s too bright for my tastes. Yellow – Giallo Stava leggendo un giallo con una copertina gialla. - He was reading a mystery novel with a yellow cover. TIP: â€Å"Un giallo† is also a mystery novel or thriller. Green – Verde Mi piace vivere in Toscana, in mezzo al verde. - I like living in Tuscany, in the middle of the green. Blue – Azzurro Ho gli occhi azzurri. - I have blue eyes. Silver – Argento Gli ho regalato un cucchiaio d’argento per la loro collezione. - I gifted them a tiny, silver spoon for their collection. Gold – Oro Cerco una collana d’oro. - I’m looking for a gold necklace. Gray – Grigio Il cielo à ¨ cosà ¬ grigio oggi. - The sky is so gray today. White – Bianco Non voglio indossare un vestito da sposa bianco, ne preferisco uno rosso! - I don’t want to wear a white wedding dress, I prefer a red one! Black – Nero Calimero à ¨ un pulcino tutto nero con un cappellino bianco in testa. - Calimero is a black chick with a white little cap on his head. Brown – Marrone Mamma mia, lei à ¨ bellissima, ha gli occhi marroni e lunghi capelli castani. - Oh my goodness, she’s beautiful, she has brown eyes and long, brown hair. TIP: You would use â€Å"marrone† to describe the color of someone’s eyes, like â€Å"gli occhi marroni†, and you would use â€Å"castano† to describe the color of someone’s hair â€Å"i capelli castani†. Dark Colors If you want to talk about dark shades, you can just add the word scuro at the end of each color. Dark red – Rosso scuroDark green – Verde scuroDark blue - Blu TIP: â€Å"Blu† is understood all its own to be a darker shade. Light Colors Here are some lighter shades: Baby blue – CelesteBaby pink – Rosa confettoLight green - Verde chiaroLight blue - Azzurro TIP: Like â€Å"blu†, â€Å"azzurro† on its own is usually understood as light blue. Unique Colors Shiny/glossy red – Rosso lucido Stavo pensando di comprare una Vespa di color rosso lucido, che ne pensi? - I was thinking about buying a shiny red Vespa, what do you think? Vermilion red - Rosso vermiglione Rimango sempre affascinata dalla tonalit di rosso vermiglione dei dipinti di Caravaggio. - I’m always attracted by the red vermilion shade used by Caravaggio in his paintings. Hot pink – Rosa shocking Non mi piacciono per niente i vestiti di colore rosa shocking, non sono eleganti. - I don’t like hot pink clothes at all, they’re not elegant. Blue green – Verde acqua Mi sono innamorato dei suoi occhi verde acqua. - I fell in love with her blue green eyes. Lilac – Lilla Il lilla à ¨ un colore davvero rilassante. - The color lilac is really relaxing. Maroon – Bordeaux Il mio colore preferito à ¨ bordeaux. - My favorite color is maroon. Hazel brown – Nocciola Ho comprato le lenti a contatto affinchà © potrei avere degli occhi color nocciola. - I bought contact lenses so that I could have hazel brown eyes. Italian Expressions with Colors Heart of gold – Cuore d’oroNot all that glitters is gold. – Non à ¨ tutto oro quel che luccica.Sweet dreams – Sogni d’oroBlack sheep (of the family) - La pecora nera

The role of race and class in the antebellum south Research Paper

The role of race and class in the antebellum south - Research Paper Example Elite white southerners viewed the change as an abolition of slavery (Fertig, 95). They believed that slavery was necessary to promote the new economy established. As such, they implemented codes that disallowed the ability for African-Americans to own or lease land, sing labor contracts, serve on juries, to vote, and testify against whites in a court of law. African-Americans did not have access to public schools whereas orphans were returned to their native countries. The elite southerners attempted to create a new economy and society because they had a comparative advantage in the production of cotton. The slaves, free blacks, and poor whites felt inferior after such a change. They believed that their providence of habits did not match that of the elite whites. As such, the notion of being inferior had a permanent defect of character that would gradually enslave them if they were to remain in such a state (Valdez,