Select the first letter of the word from the list above to jump to appropriate section of the glossary. If the term you are looking for starts with a digit or symbol, choose the '#' link.
a salt of acetic acid, used to make vinyl records, textiles and fabric
acid formed in the atmosphere especially from industrial waste and falling with rain
Also Known As
a mixture of two or more chemical elements of which one or more is a metal
Mercury alloys
hard coal
a brittle silver white metal
a huge drilling screw which can drill as deep as 200 ft
an aluminum-bearing ore
a small man-made mining tunnel within a larger mine
something having two parts
a brittle reddish-white metallic pigment occurring naturally and used in alloys
soft coal
a disease caused by the inhalation of too much coal dust
a deep narrow hole especially one made in the earth to find water, oil, etc.
a tube of hair-like diameter
any of a large group of energy-producing organic compounds containing carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, starch glucose, and other sugars
an accidental falling of a mine ceiling
made of clay and permanently hardened by heat
a thick mass of liquid hardened by blood, that is exposed to air
coke-
solid substance left after the gases have been extracted from coal
a substance consisting of ultramicroscopic articles
the senior captain of a shipping line
a mixture of two or more things
money
deoxyribonucleic acid, the self-replicating material that
is present in nearly all living organisms
men who made the holes for blasting powder to go in mine walls during the 1800's
a machine used for dredging rivers, oceans, etc.
any of the hundred or so substances that cannot be resolved by chemical means into simpler substances
a protein acting as a catalyst in a specific biochemical reaction
foolishness; lack of good sense
miners who mined for gold during the California Gold Rush
the binding together of atomic particles to build up heavier elements. This causes the release of energy that is the source of energy in all stars.
Lead ore
a rough, round-like stone that has crystals inside
a yellow high density metallic element resistant to chemical reaction, occurring naturally in quartz veins and gravel
a granular crystalline igneous rock of quartz, mica, feldspar etc...used for building
a hydrated form of calcium sulfate, occurring naturally and used to make plaster of Paris, and in the building industry
a red oxygen-carrying substance containing iron, present in the red blood cells of vertebrates
HUD -
Housing and Urban Development
roads drilled down to mines for vehicle access
to introduce industry to a country or a region
a bluish-gray metallic element occurring naturally in galena and used in building and alloys
lignite-orean often fatal, mosquito-born disease
the U.S. making of the atomic bomb, which involved 125,000 people and cost almost $2,000,000,000
a pattern of secondary minerals in turquoise that form interlocking polygons referred to as "spider web"
the process or being processed by metabolism
any of a class of chemical elements, lustrous ductile solids and good conductors of heat and electricity and forming basic oxides
the main part of natural gas, colorless, odorless, flammable and toxic
any of the species into which inorganic substances are classified
a silver-white, brittle transition element occurring naturally in molybdenite, and used in steel to give strength and resistance to corrosion
the process or change or alteration
a naturally-occurring supply that can be drawn on...a country's collective wealth
the central or main thing around which others are collected
To move around something
a naturally occurring solid from which minerals may be extracted
a binary compound of oxygen
a disease which can cause insanity and death
the first stage of coal
to filter or ooze gradually
aqueous olivin pyroxene rock often containing amphibole, mica, chromite or magnetite
one who gives charity on a large scale
Air-powered
full of pores, letting through air, leaky
a mineral having great value
any of a group of organic compounds composed of one or more chains of amino acids and forming an essential part of all living organisms
the spontaneous degeneration of atomic nuclei, emitting penetrating particles
radium
a radioactive metallic element
a term for late 19th-century industrialists
any natural material, hard or soft, consisting of one or more minerals
a modern mining technique where large mining "rooms" are supported and stabilized by pillars
ribonucleic acid
to break away from
less valuable than a precious stone
a grayish-white lustrous metallic element occurring naturally
to rinse ore
a refining furnace
a large yellow diamond found in Crater of Diamonds, worn by Hillary Clinton at President Clinton's inaugural ball
not being able to have children
to find or come across
to hold back the growth or development
a binary compound of sulfur
a pale yellow non-metallic element having a suffocating smell and a blue flame...used in gunpowder, matches, sulfuric acid, rubber and for the treatment of skin diseases
the process or result of building up separate elements
to make a synthesis
waste rock left behind after mining
any crystalline form of magnesium silicate that occurs in soft, flat plates usually white or pale green and used as a lubricant
allowing light to pass through so that bodies can be seen through
a miner who frees loose ore and rock from the walls and ceiling after drilling and blasting in a mine
ultraviolet
having a wavelength beyond the violet end of the visible
spectrum
a seam, lode or deposit of mineral
controlling the manufacturing as well as the resources and supporting businesses to produce a product cheaper