[Rockhounds] Re: Organic/Inorganic: What Is A Mineral? + Mars minerals

[DonH]

Pmodreski at aol.com wrote:
>   One  example
> that I give (though I'm not sure if this actually occurs or not) is if  sugar 
> crystals formed in some fruit--for example, grapes drying and turning into  
> raisins, 


That would be an absurd extreme.  Sugar is a water-soluble organic 
molecule.  The breakdown of the borders refers to things like apatites 
in teeth and bones.  If someone needed your help and wanted to give you 
a grant to study the uptake of trace elements from drinking water in the 
hydroxylapatite tooth structure of children, would you turn it down 
because it is not an inorganic origin?  I suppose you could, but then 
that provides more opportunity for a mineralogist who can think about 
the practical applications and interdisciplinary relevance of mineralogy.

"For things are interesting, only in so far as they relate themselves to 
other things."  -- D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson


Don