Electronic devices would not run without lead and zinc for making, batteries. Refer to Appendix A, Table A-1 for a Mineral Uses and Occurrences. The need and exploration for minerals is greater today than in the past. Minerals must be continually mined from the Earth to support fast growing mineral-hungry technologies, economies and populations. The ability of a nation to successfully exploit and manage its natural mineral resources is vital to any nation's 2rowth and prosperity.
Minerals also serve as excellent geologic time indicators for studying Earth's history.
Lastly, understanding how minerals form under the conditions that they crystallize allow them to become geologic environmental indicators. Minerals can thus be used to determine temperature and pressure conditions as tools for locating other mineral deposits within the Earth. An element is a pure substance that cannot be decomposed by any chemical change. An atom can be defined as the smallest basic unit of an element that retains the properties of that element. It consists of a special combination of protons, neutrons,and electrons.