What Is a Mineral?
Minerals are the building blocks of rocks. They are non-living, solid, and, like all matter, are made of atoms of elements. There are many different types of minerals and each type is made of particular groups of atoms. The atoms are arranged in a network called a crystal lattice. The lattice of atoms is what gives a mineral its crystal shape.
Different types of minerals have different crystal shapes. Most minerals can grow into crystal shapes if they have enough space as they grow. But there are often so many different crystals growing in the same little area that they all compete for space and none of the crystals is able to grow very large.
There are two main ways that new crystals of minerals grow. Some minerals form when molten rock, called magma below a planet’s surface and lava above, cools and atoms bond together into mineral crystals. Other minerals form when water that has atoms of dissolved elements in it, evaporates away. The atoms get very close to each other and may bond together to form solid minerals.
The special shapes of minerals are not the only difference between them. Minerals can be identi

矿物是什么？
是矿物岩石的组成部分。它们是没有生命、固体，并且，就像其他所有事物一样
，是由各元素原子组成的。世界上有各种不同种类的矿物并且每种都有特定种类
的原子组成。这些原子被一个被称作晶格的网络组织起来。原子的晶格是形成矿
物晶体形态的原因。
不同类的矿物有不同的晶体形态。大多数矿物如果有足够空间让他们生长都会长
成特定的晶体形态。但通常会有很多种不同种类的矿物生长在一片相同的狭小空
间里，这导致没哪种晶体可以生长到很大。
矿物的新晶体生长有两种主要方式。有的矿物是在名叫“岩浆”的熔融的岩石来
到星球表面并且喷发时形成，熔岩冷却时原子结合在一起形成矿物晶体。另一些
矿物在含有溶解的元素的原子的水蒸发时形成。这些原子靠的非常近就可能结合
在一起形成固体矿物。
矿物特殊的形态不是它们之间唯一的不同。矿物同样可以根据其他物理性质识别
。每种矿物都有它独特的性质。