how are minerals utilised

 The importance of minerals in everyday life is hardly recognized by the vast majority of people. According to the U.S. Bureau of Mines, the average person consumes or uses 40,000 pounds of minerals every year. Over the course of a lifetime, an individual will use more than 1,050 pounds of lead, 1,050 pounds of zinc, 1,750 pounds of copper, 4,550 pounds of aluminum, 91,000 pounds of iron and steel, 360,500 pounds of coal, and one million pounds of industrial minerals such as limestone, clay, and gravel.

As we wake up in the morning from a restless night of sleep - dreaming of piles of paperwork at the office, we turn off our alarm clock (manufactured from limestone, mica, talc, silica, and clays). After getting out of bed (bed frame and bed springs made from iron and nickel), we make our way into the kitchen. We turn on the electric light switch (copper, aluminum, and petroleum products) and the coffee pot, which is made of glass or ceramics (silica sand, limestone, talc, and feldspar).

While waiting for the coffee (coffee beans fertilized with phosphate) to brew, we sit down on a chair (aluminum and petroleum products) and read the local newspaper (kaolin clay, limestone, sodium sulfate, and soda ash). As usual, we don’t find any interesting articles concerning geology so we daydream of the time when we can finally try out our new pair of skis (graphite) and boots (limestone, talc, clay, mica, and petroleum products).

Thinking about what happened to our previous pair of skis (broken in half after they fell out of the ski rack and were run over by a truck on the freeway), we develop an upset stomach. We decide to take Milk of Magnesia (magnesium and dolomite) or Kaopectate (kaolin clay) for relief of our upset stomach.

We look up at the clock (silica sand, steel, and petroleum products) and hurry upstairs on the bright neon green carpeted floor (limestone, selenium, and petroleum products). We jump in the shower (made of ceramic tiles that are composed of silica sand, limestone, talc, and feldspar) and turn on the water (softened by halite). We adjust the shower head and turn the water faucets (iron, nickel, chromium) for warm water. Remembering that this house has no warm water, we take a quick cold shower, using soap (talc) and shampoo (coal tar, lithium clays, and selenium) to clean ourselves.

We get out of the shower and brush our teeth with a toothbrush (limestone, mica, talc, clays, and petroleum products) and toothpaste (limestone, phosphate, gypsum, selenite, fluorite, and dolomite).

The body uses minerals to perform many different functions — from building strong bones to transmitting nerve impulses. Some minerals are even used to make hormones or maintain a normal heartbeat. 

The two kinds of minerals are: 

• Macro minerals -  Macro means "large" in Greek (and our body needs larger amounts of macrominerals than trace minerals). The macromineral group is made up of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, and sulfur.

• Trace minerals -  A trace of something means that there is only a little of it. So even though your body needs trace minerals, it needs just a tiny bit of each one.  Trace minerals includes iron, manganese, copper, iodine, zinc, cobalt, fluoride, and selenium.

The body uses minerals to perform many different functions — from building strong bones to transmitting nerve impulses. Some minerals are even used to make hormones or maintain a normal heartbeat. 

The two kinds of minerals are: 

• Macro minerals -  Macro means "large" in Greek (and our body needs larger amounts of macrominerals than trace minerals). The macromineral group is made up of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride, and sulfur.

• Trace minerals -  A trace of something means that there is only a little of it. So even though your body needs trace minerals, it needs just a tiny bit of each one.  Trace minerals includes iron, manganese, copper, iodine, zinc, cobalt, fluoride, and selenium.