COMPUTER CIRCUITRY

What minerals and metals were used to

make computer circuitry?
Silicon
Copper
Gold
Silver
 Tin
aluminum
SILICON
 Hardness: 7
 Color: Colorless, white, purple, pink, brown, and black.
Also gray, green, orange, yellow, blue, and red.
Sometimes multicolored or banded.
 Streak: white
 Crystal form: octahedral
 Density: 2.32
 Luster: metallic
 Cleavage: absent

COPPER
Hardness: 2.5-3
Color: Red to brown, tarnishes green, sometimes blue or
black
Streak: copper-red
Crystal form:
octahedral
Density: 8.9
Luster: metallic
Cleavage: absent

GOLD
Hardness: 2.5-3
Color: light olive-brown to dark yellow, or a
moderate, strong to vivid yellow
Streak: golden yellow
Crystal form:
octahedral,
dodecahedral and cubic
Density:19.3
Luster: metallic
 SILVER
Hardness: 2.5-4
Color: Silvery white
Streak: Silvery white
Crystal form: octahedral
Density: 10.0 to 11.0
Luster: metallic
Cleavage: absent
 TIN
Hardness: 1.5-1.8
Color: tin-white
Streak: grey white
Crystal form:
pyramidic
Density: 7.31
Luster: metallic
Cleavage: absent
 ALUMINUM
Hardness: 2-2.9
Color: silvery-white.
Streak: white
Crystal habit: pisolitic
Density: 2.72
Luster: metallic
Cleavage: absent
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLICATIONS
Effects in air
One of the most common effect of E-waste on air is
through air pollution. For example, a British documentary
about Lagos and its inhabitants, called Welcome to
Lagos, shows a number of landfill scavengers who go
through numerous landfills in Lagos looking for improperly
disposed electronics which includes wires, blenders, etc.,
to make some income from the recycling of these wastes.
These men were shown to burn wires to get the copper (a
very valuable commodity) in them by open air burning
which can release hydrocarbons into the air.


Effects on water
When electronics containing heavy metals such as lead,
barium, mercury, lithium (found in mobile phone and
computer batteries), etc., are improperly disposed, these
heavy metals leach through the soil to reach groundwater
channels which eventually run to the surface as streams or
small ponds of water. Local communities often depend on
these bodies of water and the groundwater. Apart from
these chemicals resulting in the death of some of the
plants and animals that exist in the water, intake of the
contaminated water by humans and land animals results

in lead poisoning. Some of these heavy metals are also
carcinogenic.
Effects on soil
In this way, toxic heavy metals and chemicals from ewaste
enter the “soil-crop-food pathway,” one of the most
significant routes for heavy metals’ exposure to humans.
These chemicals are not biodegradable—they persist in
the environment for long periods of time, increasing the
risk of exposure.


Effects in humans
These dangers posed by improper disposal on the
environment ultimately have impacts on human beings
human cost; the health effects of these toxins on humans
include birth defects (irreversible), brain, heart, liver, kidney
and skeletal system damage. They also significantly affect
the nervous and reproductive systems of the human body.
When computer monitors and other electronics are
burned, they create cancer-producing dioxins which are
released into the air we breathe. If electronics are thrown
in landfills, these toxins may leach into groundwater and

affect local resources. Thus improper disposal of e-waste
not only has effects on the environment, it indirectly and
ultimately poses grave dangers to humans and livestock.
 HOW TO DISPOSE E-WASTES PROPERLY
1. Checking with the local government on laws and regulations guiding
ethical and safe disposal of these waste. As a result of the increasing
threat that e-waste poses to the environment, some communities have
begun to undergo civic programs in which inhabitants of such
communities take unwanted electronics to designated drop-off locations
2. With the donation of electronics, some of the e-waste disposed can
actually be reused, and by doing this, one can reduce pollution caused
by e-waste and also give access to people who would not otherwise
have access to these devices.
3. With the use of a certified E-waste recycler, one can find an ethical and
safe recycler certified through the Basel Action Network (BAN), a
nonprofit organization. Regionally, in Africa E-Terra, a Nigerian company,
specializes in recycling, and safe and ethical destruction of these
electronics.

OTHER THAN A JEWELRY, WHY IS GOLD

IMPORTANT TO SOCIETY?
 Gold has inspired craftsmen to create objects of desire that
unite us with our emotions. In the Middle Ages, alchemists
attempted to use their magic to make gold from other
metals. They believed that gold was a source of
immortality, and so it was used in medicines designed to
fight old age and prolong life.
 CAN A MINERAL BE FORMED BY ONE OR
MORE PROCESS? IF YES, GIVE AN EXAMPLE. IF
NO, EXPLAIN WHY
 Water evaporates. Water usually has many substances dissolved in it.
Minerals can form when the water evaporates. For example, when salt
water evaporates, the atoms that make up halite, which is used as table
salt, join to form crystals. Other minerals form from evaporation too,
depending on the substances dissolved in the water. The mineral gypsum
often forms as water evaporates.
 Hot water cools. As hot water within Earth’s crust moves through rocks, it
can dissolve minerals. When the water cools, the dissolved minerals
separate from the water and become solid again. In some cases, minerals
are moved from one place to another. Gold can dissolve in hot water that
moves through the crust. As the water cools and the gold becomes solid
again, it can fill cracks in rocks. In other cases, the minerals that form are
different from the ones that dissolved. Lead from the mineral galena can
 later become part of the mineral wulfenite as atoms join together into new
minerals. Molten rock cools. Many minerals grow from magma. —
 Molten rock inside Earth—contains all the types of atoms that are found
in minerals. As magma cools, the atoms join together to form different
minerals. Minerals also form as lava cools. is molten rock that has
reached Earth’s surface. Quartz is one of the many minerals that
crystallize from magma and lava. Heat and pressure cause changes.
 Heat and pressure within Earth cause new minerals to form as bonds
between atoms break and join again. The mineral garnet can grow
and replace the minerals chlorite and quartz as their atoms combine in
new ways. The element carbon is present in some rocks. At high
temperatures carbon forms the mineral graphite, which is used in
pencils.
 Organisms produce minerals. A few minerals are produced by living
things. For example, ocean animals such as oysters and clams produce
calcite and other carbonate minerals to form their shells. Even you
 produce minerals. Your body produces one of the main minerals in your
bones and teeth—apatite.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN METALLIC AND NON-

METALLIC RESOURCES AND GIVE EXAMPLES
 Metallic minerals contain metal elements in their chemical
formula. The metal ores itself can be considered as a mineral.
Some common metal minerals include Chalcopyrite, Iron,
Copper, Gold, etc. Chalcopyrite is the most common Copper
mineral and is an Iron-Copper Sulphide.
 Metallic minerals usually originate from igneous rocks. An igneous
rock is a type of rock that is formed by the cooling and
solidification of magma or lava. Magma is made by melting
existing rocks under very high temperature and low pressure. It is
possible to extract the metals from their ores when the metallic
 minerals are melted. Furthermore, these minerals are found to be
ductile. In general, these minerals are able to preserve their own
shine.
 Non-Metallic Minerals do not contain metal elements in their
inorganic chemical formula. Some common examples include;
Clay, Diamond, Dolomite, Gypsum, Mica, Amethyst and Quartz,
etc., Some minerals among these non-metallic minerals belong
to the category of precious/ semi-precious jewellery material.
These materials are not ductile and can be brok Unlike in the
case of metallic minerals, melting the nonmetallic minerals would
not produce useful material. Nonmetallic minerals are derived
from sedimentary rocks. Sedimentary rocks are formed through
the aggregation of diverse materials such as minerals, other rock
particles, parts of organisms and other organic compounds. Also,
they do not have a shine of their own break into pieces upon a
collision.
 DISCUSS THE MOST COMMON ORIGIN OF
CHROMITE ORE. HOW IS THIS ORE IMPORTANT
TO SOCIETY?
 Chromite forms in deep ultra-mafic magmas and is one of
the first minerals to crystallize. It is because of this fact that
chromite is found in some concentrated ore bodies. While
the magma is slowly cooling inside the Earth's crust,
chromite crystals are forming and because of their density,
fall to the bottom and are concentrated there.
 Chromite is important because it is the only economic ore
of chromium, an essential element for a wide variety of
metal, chemical, and manufactured products. Many other
minerals contain chromium, but none of them are found in
 deposits that can be economically mined to produce
chromium.
DISCUSS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAGMATIC
ORE DEPOSITS AND HYDROTHERMAL ORE
DEPOSITS.
 Magmatic ore deposits are deposits coming from
volcanoes which is the magma flowing form the surface
and becomes hard when exposed to outside environment.
It occurs during cooling of magmatic bodies due to outside
environment.
 Hydrothermal ore deposits are deposits which are caused
by magma that heats the water.
EXPLAIN HOW VEINS WERE FORMED

Veins are formed when aqueous solutions

carrying various elements migrate through
fissures in rock and deposit their burden onto the
fissure walls. Hot rising water from cooling igneous
plutons may deposit minerals as it ascends
through the crust
Resources of this report

 www.pediaa.com
 www.galleries.com
 www.keydifferences.com
 www.quora.com
 www.greencleanguide.com
 www.mindat.org
 www.geology.com
 www.rockstone-research.com
 www.eterra.com.ng