Minerals 1
The most useful clue to use when identifying a mineral
What is hardness?
This is used to rank the hardness of minerals using a ranking system from 1 to 10
What is the Mohs hardness scale?
Metallic, silky, waxy, greasy, earthy, pearly and glassy are adjectives that can describe this characteristic of a mineral
What is Luster?
The color of a minerals powder is called this
What is streak?
Hardness of a mineral can be determined by this
What is a scratch test?
A mineral that splits easily along flat surfaces has this property, which is uncommon for minerals
(ex. Mica)
What is cleavage?
The color of a mineral and the color of it’s streak are often____________.
What is different?
The color of a mineral’s _____ is always the same even though the color of the mineral itself may vary.
What is streak?
This term describes how a mineral looks when it breaks apart in an irregular way (Ex. Quartz produces curved shell-like surfaces when it is broken)
What is fracture?
This characteristic of a mineral means that minerals are formed from materials that were not a part of living things
What is an inorganic process?
Describes how light is reflected from a mineral’s surface
What is luster?
Geologists identify minerals by examining their _____; such as, streak, crystal structure, hardness, density, cleavage and fracture.
What is “physical properties”?
A solid that is formed from a repeating pattern of a mineral’s particles; having flat sides (faces) that meet at sharp edges and corners
What is a crystal?
1) Use a balance to determine the mass of the mineral sample 2) put the mineral sample and water to see how much water it displaces to get it’s volume (the volume of the displaced water equals the volume of the sample) 3) Divide the mass of the mineral sample by it’s volume to get the mineral’s _________
What is density?
The process by which atoms are arranged to form a material that has a crystal structure
What is crystallization?