Defining
Naturally occurring, inorganic, crystalline, solid, and chemically bonded.
What is a mineral?
It refers to a minerals ability to scratch or be scratched by other minerals.
What is relative hardness?
An easy test for this would be to place the mineral near iron shavings.
What is magnetism?
The best conductor of electricity.
What is silver?
A test that identifies minerals by looking at the color it produces when burned.
The is the flame test?
A mineral made of only one kind of element.
What is a native mineral?
The amount and quality of light reflected from a mineral's surface.
What is luster?
What is the acid test?
Found in the underground remnants of volcanoes, this mineral's value depends on its color, clarity, and cut.
What is a diamond?
A physical property that can affected by impurities.
What is color?
Most minerals are of type, being made of multiple elements chemically bonded together.
Related to both how the minerals atoms are arranged and to the strength of their bond, this property well a mineral can be split.
What is mineral cleavage?
Invisible energy, given off be some minerals, that can be detected by a Geiger counter.
What is radioactivity?
Used as tarnish-proof coating in electronics, as well as for jewelry, this native mineral have the symbol Au on the periodic table.
What is gold?
A more accurate test of a minerals color.
What is a steak test?
a rock containing one or more minerals.
What is an ore?
How smooth or rough the break of a mineral is.
What is fracture?
Glowing without being hot. Includes fluorescence and phosphorescence.
What is luminescence?
Being used in construction do to its tough tarnishing this mineral's symbol is Cu.
What is copper?
How a minerals grows, one atom at a time.
What is accretion?
A process in which electric current is passing through a water solution carrying metal atoms from a sources of metal to another metal.
What is electroplating?
A minerals ratio of its density to that of water.
What is specific gravity?
How light bends as it passes through transparent minerals. It could show a single or a double.
What is refraction?
At 235 degrees Fahrenheit this mineral melts into a deep red liquid. The acid derived from it is one of the most important parts of modern industrial nations.
What is sulfur?
While most rocks are this, no mineral is because they are chemically bonded.
What are mixtures?