💾 Archived View for thrig.me › blog › 2024 › 11 › 08 › minerals.gmi captured on 2024-12-17 at 10:41:37. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Minerals, according to one definition are solid, inorganic, naturally occurring, have a definite chemical composition, and a unique crystalline structure. Even with this shared definition one can run into categorization problems; is ice a mineral? Solid? Check. Inorganic? Check. Natural? Check. Composition? Check. Structure? Check. However, some hold ice to not be a mineral, reasoned along the lines of ice not being natural at typical Earth surface temperatures. One might then imagine a snowball Earth species that would put ice into their mineral bucket, as ice would be the normal form, and water an exotic phase, much as lava is an exotic phase for us. Is diamond a mineral? It's really not in a natural state at the surface of the Earth.
Without a shared definition things worsen, think "that crazy uncle who is convinced that Begonias are minerals" or possibly different tribes of beliefs if that no longer crazy but now much respected uncle has convinced others that Begonias are indeed minerals.