Asbestos

6 Pages 1389 Words

Asbestos:
A Research of the Mineral
Over the last century, asbestos has been found to be a mineral with properties that are useful in the manufacturing of many different types of products. Asbestos is more economical and effective than most of its replacement minerals for the development of these products, but this mineral has brought much controversy due to the fact of causing respiratory diseases, because of its’ structure and formation. Scientists agree on asbestos causing these diseases, but they differ in opinions when they are asked about its beneficial assets. Asbestos has caused many problems and is seen in the eyes of society as having both advantageous and disadvantageous effects. I have posed a series of questions for the reader for the help of fully understanding asbestos and its consequences on society. People have drawn quite different conclusions in addressing some of the following questions:
1. What is asbestos and its’ properties?
2. Why has asbestos caused so much controversy?
3. What effect has asbestos has on our society?
4. What is asbestos’s future?
The research on the mineral, asbestos, focuses on these three questions.
What is Asbestos and
Its’ Properties?
The word asbestos is defined by the Environmental Protection Agency in the article The Asbestos Informer (2001) as several types of fibrous minerals, which are mostly composed of silicon, oxygen, and various metal cations. Asbestos can be found in 2/3 of rocks in the earth’s crust today (E.P.A pg 1). These fibrous silicates can be broken down in two groups, Amphiboles (Amosite) and Serpentines (Chrysotile). These minerals, unlike most others, when crushed, asbestos break into fine elongated fibers that are too small to be to be seen by the human eye, instead of turning into dust as we see in most other minerals. These fibers are strong, durable, and heat and fire resistant. Other properties of asbestos consist of long, thin, fle...