The interaction of physical and chemical processes that change the Earth’s rocks from one type to another.

It is a concentration of one or more minerals in the Earth’s crust that we can extract and process into raw materials and useful products at an affordable cost.

Is rock that contains a large enough concentration of a mineral-often a metal-to make it profitable for mining and processing.

Is a naturally occurring chemical element or inorganic compound that exists as a solid with a regularly repeating internal arrangement of its atoms or ions (a crystalline solid)

Their supply is limited and cannot be replaced.

Consist primarily of compounds

of carbon and hydrogen called hydrocarbons.

Bacteria consuming buried

plant remains, releasing

methane and carbon dioxide,

leaving only carbon behind.

Chemicals derived from petroleum, essential component of over 3000 products, products include: tar, wax, and plastic.

The splitting of the nucleus of a large

atoms into two or more smaller nuclei.

Nuclear reactions are contained in a

controlled environment called _________: