Fool’s Gold

Pyrite is brass-yellow, often mistaken for gold. Although not extremely important, it is commonly used in nutritional supplements. Pyrite is also now used in lithium batteries. Some pyrite may also be mined as gold ores due to its make up. It is found in sulfide deposits and may be found in sedimentary rock and may also form discs within these rocks. I’ve often played with pyrite in the past and I can vividly remember how I mistook it for gold and discovering how easy it was to cut into.

Sulfur

Mineral: Sulfur

I chose sulfur due to my own personal connotations to it. I feel as if it is rather dangerous, which I don’t doubt any mineral could not be potentially dangerous, but with how I connote sulfur, it seems like it would not be safe to be in its presence. However, I am aware that sulfur is used in items I use, such as my clay mask, so obviously, it can be safe to some extent. In terms of more technical terms, sulfur is a non-metallic element found underground often in salt domes or sulfur deposits when mined. It is also produced as a result of oil refining, thus making it a by-product. When mined, there are three different ways to do so. This includes mining underground, in open-pits, and Frasch mining, which is melting sulfur underground in sulfur deposits through forcing hot water into the deposit, then cooling off and solidifying.

I mentioned already one use of sulfur that I’ve encountered, which is in my cosmetic products. Sulfur, however, is largely used in the US to make sulfuric acid, present in chemicals in products such as fertilizers, petroleum products, and mining metals. For another use in a more day-to-day context, sulfur is also found in car tires.

Molybdenum

No other mineral mined in the U.S. rolls off the tongue like molybdenum. And the idea of this shiny metal on your tongue is one you should keep in mind. Molybdenum is one of the dietary elements needed by the body to survive. A fact that speaks volumes to its functionality and versatility in our lives. Nitrogenase containing molybdenum, is the enzyme that reduces the nitrogen-nitrogen bond allowing for nitrogen fixation and the beginning of the nitrogen cycle. The understanding of this process, and molybdenum’s key role in it, allowed food production to sustain our growing population. On the industrial side, where molybdenum is hopefully not being ingested, the metal is capable of withstanding extreme heat without expansion. This property, along with its resistance to corrosion, is what makes it so common in creating alloys, and for military applications.

Molybdenum has been most commonly mined in the U.S. until China leaped ahead in 2006. Mountain states such as Colorado and Utah lead the production in the U.S. in part due to the metal’s presence as a by-product in copper mining. Molybdenum mining still carries many of the same dangers that can be imagined from mining other elements. As much as I tout molybdenum’s importance for life, overexposure will lead to death.

Calcite

Calcite: a colorless or white mineral consisted mostly of Calcium carbonate (CaCO3)

Although it is in no way a rare or uncommon mineral, calcite piqued my interest the moment I spotted it on the webpage. It is a major component of limestone and dolomite. Limestone has applications in construction and industry where it can be used for road construction, as a filter stone, glass manufacturing, sugar processing, and even acid water treatment.  I also picked calcite because I have always been fascinated with marble as a material. The fact that marble can be equal parts aesthetically pleasing as well as inherently useful ( e.g. for things like countertops) always seemed very interesting to me.

Minerals in the US

Gold: It was the cause of an entire Gold Rush in California in the 1840s, and for a good reason! Gold is a common mineral that is used in creating jewelry and other valued possessions.

Silver

Silver is mined in the United State of America and it is used to make tableware, jewelry, electronics and medicine. I really like silver because it is valuable and if goblins were real I bet they would steal it and hoard it. I also like how silver is lustrous  It is better than gold because everyone expects you to hoard gold but no one expects you to hoard silver.It has unsurpassed thermal conductivity. They are used for example as electrical contacts in switches.I think silver is cool and I wish I had more silver. Silver comes from silver mines. Many electronic circuits rely on silver paste. Silver is also found in batteries.

The Surprising Use of Arsenic – Aidan Subrahimovic

One thing that piqued my interest on the Minerals Education Coalition was the fact that arsenic was listed as a mineral we mine in the United States. Having previous knowledge about the effects of arsenic when it was widely used in Victorian England, I was surprised that it still plays a role in our daily lives at all. It turns out that despite its extremely poisonous properties, arsenic in its elemental form has similar properties to silicon in that it is a semiconductor. Just as silicon is used in most electronics for its semiconductant properties, so too is arsenic, albeit in trace amounts for the safety of its handlers. It is normally mined in a compounded form such as copper arsenate. Unsurprisingly, arsenic is not harvested from any waste materials in any recycling programs in the United States.

The wonders of Obsidian

Obsidian attracted me not only because of its glassy appearance but my because prior knowledge of the earth sciences, specifically minerals, as well. It is a volcanic glass that forms almost instantaneously when felsic lava comes into contact with water. The size of crystals are dependent on the amount of time it takes for the lava to cool down and because the temperature changes so rapidly, the felsic lava doesn’t have time to form crystals like in other igneous rocks, thus why it forms a glassy rock with no crystals. Obsidian also is able to float because of its capability to form bubbles. Scientists are aiming to use obsidian in surgical rooms with the intent of incorporating it into the medical appliances.

Beryllium in the United States

Mineral: Beryllium

The Where and Why:

Beryllium is primarily used as an alloying agent, strengthening/fortifying agent in mixed metal to produce beryllium copper. Beryllium copper is widely utilized in the production of springs, electrical contacts, spot-welding electrodes, and non-sparking tools. It is also additionally used as a structural material for high-speed aircraft, missiles, spacecraft, and communication satellites.

It had caught my interest since it’s used in so many everyday objects and as the base for components and device we happen to use every day. Its versatility, displayed in its use in larger and more involved technologies like aircraft assembly, demonstrate how such a simple metal can have a broad and influential impact on society, big and small.