Mineral Structure

mineral

a naturally occurring, inorganic solid that has a crystal structure and a definite chemical composition

atom

Basic unit of matter

element

A pure substance made of only one kind of atom

compound

A substance made up of atoms of two or more different elements joined by chemical bonds

solid

Definite shape and volume

crystal

a solid in which the atoms are arranged in a pattern that repeats again and again

crystalline solid

A solid that is made up of crystals in which particles are arranged in a regular, repeating pattern

amorphous solid

A solid made up of particles that are not arranged in a regular pattern

inorganic processes

activities that living things cannot carry out

organic processes

activities that are carried out by living things

valence shell

The outermost energy shell of an atom

octet rule

States that atoms lose, gain or share electrons in order to acquire a full set of eight valence electrons

ions

positively and negatively charged atoms

ionic bond

A chemical bond resulting from the attraction between oppositely charged ions.

Electronegativity

A chemical property that describes the power of an atom in a molecule to attract shared-pair electrons towards itself

oxidation number

Positive or negative number that indicates how many electrons an atom has gained, lost, or shared to become stable

cation

A positively charged ion

anion

A negatively charged ion

crystal lattice

A 3-dimensional geometric arrangement of the atoms or molecules or ions composing a crystal

covalent bond

A chemical bond that involves sharing a pair of electrons between atoms in a molecule

nonpolar covalent bond

a covalent bond in which the electrons are shared equally by the two atoms

polar covalent bond

A covalent bond in which electrons are not shared equally