mineral: naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline solid with characteristic physical properties, and chemical composition.

matter comes in three states:

gas, liquid, solid

matter is made of chemical elements

elements are made up of atoms

atoms are smallest unit of matter that retains the characteristics of an element

Atoms consist of:

neutrons (one positive and one negative charge)

protons (one positive charge)

electrons (one negative charge)

number of protons determines the element and the atomic number for that element

number of protons and neutrons determines the atomic mass number

atoms of the same element with different atomic mass number (neutron number varies) are called isotopes, some of them are radioactive and used in radiometric age dating of rocks

bonding: process where atoms are joint together to form compounds

Ionic bonding: forms because od attractive force between one negatively and one positively charged ion; e.g. NaCl

Covalent bonding: overlap of electron shell and shared electrons; e.g. carbon

Metallic bonding: extreme form of electron sharing, electrons move freely from one atom to the next; e.g. Metals

van der Waals bonding: extremely weak bonding when no electrons are available for other kind of bonding; e.g. graphite