VOCAB1
The color of a mineral's powder.
What is streak?
______ of a mineral will never change.
What is streak?
_____ minerals have been discovered.
3,800
Describe the luster of a metal mineral (ex: silver)
Metallic
Not formed from living things.
What is inorganic?
The way a mineral reflect light from its surface.
What is luster?
Shiny, metallic, pearly, waxy all describe this property of a mineral.
What is luster?
What is the hardest mineral?
Diamond
What number is the softest rating on the Mohs Hardness Scale?
1
A solid that is naturally accruing, inorganic, has a crystal structure, and a definite chemical composition
What is a mineral?
How a mineral splits evenly along along a flat surface
What is cleavage?
Name two more "special properties" of minerals
Magnetic and glows
What is the softest mineral?
Talc
What objects can be used to determine mineral hardness? (list 2)
Fingernail, screw/nail
A scale ranking ten minerals from softest to hardest used in testing the hardness of a mineral
What is Mohs hardness scale?
The way a mineral looks when it breaks apart in irregular pieces.
What is fracture?
____ spaces form perfect crystals
Open spaces
What 5 things must something have to be a mineral?
Solid, naturally accruing, inorganic, has a crystal structure, and a definite chemical composition
_____ spaces form incomplete crystals
Small, confined
A measure of how heavy something is compared to its size.
What is density?
A solid that's atoms are arranged in a pattern that repeats.
What is a crystal?
Why is color not enough to identify a mineral?
Color of a mineral is similar to other minerals. Streak varies more.
Name the properties used to identity a mineral (9)
Color, streak, luster, density, hardness, crystal system, cleavage, fracture, and special properties.
no matter the size of the mineral _____ remains the same
Density
How do you calculate density?
Density= mass/volume