Characteristics Defining a Mineral
Minerals must occur _______ in the Earth's crust.
What is naturally?
What is the definition of inorganic?
Meaning was not made from living things.
Scientist who study minerals
Mineralogist
Minerals must be this state of matter?
What is solid?
A mineral's atoms are arranged in a definite repeating _____ create a crytsal.
What is pattern?
What is the cleavage of a mineral?
What is, if the mineral will break off in flat thin sheets?
What is the streak of a mineral?
What color powder does it leave on the tile.
The repeating pattern minerals are arranged in is called its __________ ___________.
What is crystal structure?
What does the luster of a mineral mean?
What is, how it shine/reflect the light?
If a number is high on the Mohs Hardness scale, what will it scratch?
What is anything with a LOWER number?
List the 7 categories of physical properties of minerals.
•Hardness
•Luster
•Crystal Structure
•Streak
•Color
•Cleavage
•Fracture
The vocabulary term meaning not derived from living organisms; it's not organic matter like coal.
What is inorganic?
Tell me the two categories of luster.
What are metallic and non-metallic?
If a number is LOW on the Mohs Hardness scale, what will it scratch?
What is, it will not scratch anything with a number ABOVE it?
If the mineral breaks in an irregular pattern.
What is fracture?
Tell me the difference between a scratch test and a streak test.
Scratch Test - Testing HARDNESS of the mineral.
Streak Test - Color of the mineral in powder form.
This vocabulary term means that there is a specific chemical formula (elements), though this can sometimes vary within certain limits.
What is definite chemical composition?
Tell me a property that is not THE BEST for determining the mineral.
Bonus - WHY?
What is the color of mineral?
Answers may vary.
Tell me the steps to complete a Mohs hardness scale test.
Testing a Mineral’s Hardness
1.Locate a clean surface on the mineral being tested
2.Hold the mineral firmly and try to scratch it with another object of known hardness
3.Look for a scratch line on the mineral – you may have to rub your finger over the line to feel if there is a scratch
4.If the mineral was able to be scratched, then it is softer than the other object
5.If the mineral was not able to be scratched, then it is harder than the other object
6.Repeat the process with other objects of known hardness to determine the approximate hardness of the mineral sample
We made a crystal in the lab. Explain to me why it is a crystal, but why it is not a true mineral?
Bonus - HOW was our mineral FORMED, like the REAL formation?
Has a crystal structure - because it has a repeating pattern.
Not a mineral - because we (human) made.
Bonus - Liquid evaporating from a solution, and the precipitate falling out of evaporated liquid.
Tell me all 5 characteristics that minerals MUST have.
•Naturally Occurring
•Solid
•Forms by inorganic processes
•Crystal structure
•Definite chemical composition