Around the home
Around the home
There are lots of minerals around your home.
Look around your home. Minerals are used in lots of everyday objects in your house.
Here are just a few household items made from minerals - can you think of any others?
Scroll down and find out more about the minerals you can find around the home.
Find out more about the minerals around the home
Light bulbs
Where would we be without light bulbs? In the dark!
Tungsten has the highest melting point of all metals. Light bulbs can get very hot, so tungsten is a good metal to use to make the filaments in light bulbs.
Wolframite and scheelite are the main ores of tungsten.
Tungsten
Wolframite is an ore mineral of the metal tungsten. Tungsten is used to make the filament in light bulbs.
- strong
- has a very high melting point
Pens and paper
Without minerals you could not put pen to paper.
The writing tips of pens are made with a strong metal called tungsten which comes from wolframite and scheelite ores.
Minerals used to make pens and paper
Wolframite is an ore mineral of the metal tungsten. Tungsten is used to make the nibs of pens.
Minerals like clay, mica, talc and baryte are mixed with wood pulp to make paper
Properties of tungsten:
- strong
- rigid
- impermeable
Paints and pencils
Lead pencils do not contain lead. The 'lead' is made of a mixture of clay and a mineral called graphite - a form of carbon.
Rutile and ilmenite are the main sources of titanium metal, which is used to make a white pigment in paints. Housepaint used to contain lead, but now we know it is poisonous titanium is used instead.
Graphite and rutile are used to make pencils and paints
Minerals used to make pencils and paints
A mixture of clay and graphite makes up the 'lead' in pencils.
Lead comes from a mineral called galena. It is not used in paints any more - titanium is used instead.
Titanium comes from the minerals rutile and ilmenite.
Properties of graphite:
- soft
- easily powdered
- opaque (not see-through)
Film and batteries
To take a photo, cameras have to have a film in them. Photographic films are coated with different mineral salts. Silver, argentite and other silver-bearing minerals are often used in photography.
Cameras also need batteries to work. Nickel is used in rechargeable batteries. Pyrrhotite, pentlandite and garnierite are the main ore minerals of nickel.
Silver, garnierite, and pentlandite are used to make film and batteries
Minerals used to make film and batteries
Silver salts react to light and coat some types of photographic film. The use of silver in photography is not as common now that digital cameras are so popular.
Rechargable batteries contain nickel. Nickel comes from the minerals pyrrhotite, pentlandite and garnierite.
Property of silver:
- silver sallts react with light
Flower pots
Clay minerals are used to make ceramic flower pots. You may have used clay at school to make a pot or bowl. When it is dried and fired in a kiln, clay produces hardwearing pots.
You can use another mineral to pot up your favourite plant. Vermiculite is a mineral which expands when it is heated. It is used as an ingredient in potting mixes to improve drainage.
Illite and vermiculite are used to make flower pots and improve drainage
Minerals used in flower pots
Illite is a clay mineral used to make ceramic pots. The mineral vermiculite is used as an ingredient in potting mix to improve drainage.
Properties of clay:
- easy to shape when wet
- strong and rigid when fired
- impermeable when fired
