GEOL 1301 – My favorite mineral
My favorite mineral is calcium. The hardness, or resistance to abrasion of calcite (the most common
natural form of calcium ("Calcite," 2019)) is 3 on Moh’s scale of hardness ("Moh's Scale of Hardness,"
2019), landing it in between gypsum, 2 on the hardness scale, and fluorite, 4 on the hardness scale.
Calcite is normally white, but may be colorless, gray, red, green, blue, yellow, brown, or orange.
Throughout the Earth, calcium can be mined essentially anywhere for due to its high prevalence
("Calcite," 2019). However, when extracting calcium from the Earth, geologists primarily search for
deposits of limestone, dolomite, and gypsum, all of which have a very high calcium concentration.
Calcium is the most prevalent mineral in the human body and is essential not only for construction of
bones, to which it contributes hardness, density, and form, but also to other biological processes that
take place in the body. For instance, calcium is critically involved in neural transmission. In these
situations, Ca2+ (calcium), will often play a role in gating ion channels via intermolecular and steric
forces (Katz & Miledi, 1970).
("Calcite," 2019)
Calcite. (2019). Retrieved from https://geology.com/minerals/calcite.shtml
Katz, B., & Miledi, R. (1970). Further study of the role of calcium in synaptic transmission. The Journal of
Physiology, 207(3), 789-801.
Moh's Scale of Hardness. (2019). Retrieved from https://geology.com/minerals/mohs-hardnessscale.shtml