Is the US "cheap" when it comes to minting coins?

"bz" wrote in message
8.139...
"Mr. Jaggers" lugburzman[at]yahoo[dot]com wrote in news:e409vu01v52
@enews2.newsguy.com:

was made in the interiors of stars whose lives ended in supernova
explosions billions of years ago

In a sense, we are all star vomit.

Carl Sagan preferred "star stuff." And I should have said "billions and
billions."

Mr. Jaggers

On Thu, 11 May 2006 13:59:04 -0500, "Dale Hallmark"
dalehall"AT"cableone.net wrote:




Technically (with only a few exceptions) a mineral has to have a crystalline
structure to be a mineral.
Metals, may have a metallic structure and some can have a crystalline
structure
and a mineral doesn't have to be a pure element but it can be. But then
neither does a metal :-)

Oil is legally defined as a mineral and it has no crystalline structure and
there are a few other amorphous
type minerals such as Chrysocolla which is defined as a metamict mineral
which originally
did have a crystalline structure but it was destroyed by natural radiation.

Zinc as a mineral is Zincite which is a Zinc oxide and is found naturally
around Franklin N.J. Its crystal structure is hexagonal.
When you refine it for the element Zn, it loses its crystal structure and
becomes the element Zn which just happens to be a metal
with a metallic structure.

There is an ore of Zinc (Zinc blende) called Sphalerite and it has several
possible crystal structures. It is mostly ZnS.
An interesting point is that ice is a mineral technically but when melted it
is not.

Most (refined) metal is no longer a mineral but it can be an element or an
alloy :-).

Dale


C'mon, Dale, don't skimp on the research!

;-)

Great job!


Reclining Buddha

The Original Couch Potato!

Reclining Buddha wrote in message
...
On Thu, 11 May 2006 13:59:04 -0500, "Dale Hallmark"
dalehall"AT"cableone.net wrote:




Technically (with only a few exceptions) a mineral has to have a
crystalline
structure to be a mineral.
Metals, may have a metallic structure and some can have a crystalline
structure
and a mineral doesn't have to be a pure element but it can be. But then
neither does a metal :-)

Oil is legally defined as a mineral and it has no crystalline structure
and
there are a few other amorphous
type minerals such as Chrysocolla which is defined as a metamict mineral
which originally
did have a crystalline structure but it was destroyed by natural
radiation.

Zinc as a mineral is Zincite which is a Zinc oxide and is found naturally
around Franklin N.J. Its crystal structure is hexagonal.
When you refine it for the element Zn, it loses its crystal structure and
becomes the element Zn which just happens to be a metal
with a metallic structure.

There is an ore of Zinc (Zinc blende) called Sphalerite and it has several
possible crystal structures. It is mostly ZnS.
An interesting point is that ice is a mineral technically but when melted
it
is not.

Most (refined) metal is no longer a mineral but it can be an element or an
alloy :-).

Dale


C'mon, Dale, don't skimp on the research!
Reclining Buddha
The Original Couch Potato!


That was my problem, I did no research, wrote the above from memory
(faulty).
I have over 36 hours of college Geology including Mineralogy and collect
rocks and minerals.
I just don't get the chance to use that knowledge much anymore.

Dale
Use it or lose it!