ex infernis Posted November 13, 2006 #1 Share Posted November 13, 2006 To be classified as a "true" mineral, a substance must be a solid and have a crystal structure. It must also be an inorganic If minerals have to be inorganic then why are diamonds considered minerals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedOfDark Posted November 14, 2006 #2 Share Posted November 14, 2006 From wiki: "To be classified as a "true" mineral, a substance must be a solid and have a crystal structure. It must also be an inorganic, naturally-occurring, homogeneous substance with a defined chemical composition." In this context, I think inorganic refers to "not formed BY life" instead of the more chemistryish definition, in which an all-carbon structure might be considered organic. And "not formed by life" does not only mean man-made ofc. Many different species of life form rocks (i forget their names ). Mostly stuff like coral and other underwater creatures. In the case of a naturaly-occurring organic compound (from chem definition this time, in which diamond might be included), I don't think any of them will form a crystal structure, ruling them out from the mineral classification. But overall, Im uncertain. I will get my friend to post here, he could probably tell us what the real definition of an organic chemical compound is, and wether or not they come in crystalline formations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted November 14, 2006 #3 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Organic chemistry is the chemistry of carbon compounds. In chemistry a compound is a substance consisting of elements or ions of 2 or more different elements. As diamond is a form (allotrope) of pure carbon it is not a compound and it's chemistry is not considered organic. Graphite would also not be considered an organic molecule for the same reason. I hope this makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiCkC818 Posted November 14, 2006 #4 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Doesn't an organic compound consist of 3 building blocks, that of Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted November 14, 2006 #5 Share Posted November 14, 2006 (edited) Doesn't an organic compound consist of 3 building blocks, that of Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon? No, just carbon and any other element(s). Methane is organic, for example and that is CH4 (1 carbon and 4 hydrogen). Edited November 14, 2006 by Waspie_Dwarf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpeedOfDark Posted November 14, 2006 #6 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Thx waspie dwarf! Makes sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted November 14, 2006 #7 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Thx waspie dwarf! Makes sense to me. I'm glad about that, I never was any good at chemistry. I just did it for a living for 20 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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