Kinds of Minerals
Structures of Minerals
Physical Properties of Minerals
Special Properties of Minerals
Anything Goes
100
These are the two groups of minerals.
What are silicates and nonsilicates?
100
This is a solid whose atoms, ions or molecules are arranged in a regular, repeating pattern.
What is a crystal?
100
This property is the most unreliable.
What is color?
100
This special property shows when a mineral glows under UV light.
What is fluorescence?
100
This special property occurs when a UV light has shown on the mineral, but when it is turned off, the mineral itself will glow.
What is phosphorescence?
200
These are how many minerals that have been identified on Earth.
What is 4,000 minerals?
200
These are four sided figures where 4 oxygen atoms are arranged in a pyramid and one silicon atom is in the center.
What is a silicon-oxygen tetrahedron?
200
This scale ranks minerals from 1-10 based upon scratch tests.
What is moh's scale of hardness?
200
This property occurs when light reflects off a mineral and it forms a cat's eye.
What is chatoyancy?
200
This special property reflects a six-sided star when light shines on it.
What is asterism?
300
These minerals make up 96% of Earth's crust.
What are silicate minerals?
300
When there are two chains of tetrahedral silicates, it is called this.
What is a double-chain?
300
This describes the true color of the mineral in powdered form after being scratched across a tile.
What is streak?
300
Some minerals show this property if they are made of iron.
What is magnetism?
300
A mineral with a mass of 85g and volume of 34 cm3 will have this density.
What is 2.5 g/cm3
400
Quartz falls into this group of minerals.
What are silicates?
400
These kinds of minerals have a diverse chemical compositions and often display cubes, hexagonal prisms, and irregular masses.
What are nonsilicates?
400
These properties both describe how a mineral breaks.
What are fracture and cleavage?
400
Calcite shows this special property where light ray bend as it passes through it and split into two parts.
What is double refraction?
400
This is the softest mineral on Moh's scale.
What is talc?
500
Carbonates are a group of these kinds of minerals.
What are nonsilicates?
500
This shape of crystalline structure of silicates share three oxygen atoms with other tetrahedra.
What are sheet silicates?
500
This property describes the ratio of the mass of a substance to the volume of it. It can be found by dividing mass by volume.
What is density?
500
You can use this tool to detect radioactivity; another special property of some minerals.
What is a Geiger counter?
500
This type of fracture is described as this because there are curved surfaces when it breaks.
What are conchoidal fractures?
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