What makes a mineral
A solid whose particles are arranged in a regular, repeating, 3-D pattern
Crystalline solid (Crystal)
What are the two main groups of minerals?
Silicate minerals and nonsilicate minerals
Describes the way a mineral's surface reflects light
Luster
Mohs Hardness Scale ranks mineral hardness on a scale from ___ to ___
1 to 10
Give an example of a mineral that can be identified by taste AND a mineral that can be identified by smell
Salt, Sulfur
Where do minerals naturally form?
In the Earth's crust
The most common silicate mineral
What is feldspar
A mineral's resistance to being scratched
Hardness
The softest mineral on Mohs Hardness scale has a hardness of 1. What is it?
Talc
A type of magnetite that acts as a magnet that was used in magnetic compasses.
What is lodestone?
The mineral crystal shape that includes cubes and octahedrons.
What is isometric?
What percentage of the Earth's crust do silicate minerals make up?
96%
A mineral with a hardness of ____ or less can be identified by streak
6
The hardest mineral has a hardness of 10. What is it?
Diamond
The ability of a mineral to glow and change color under ultraviolet light
fluorescence
What is an inorganic substance?
A substance that is not made up of living things or the remains of living things
Silicate minerals are minerals that contain a combination of _________ & __________, the most common elements in the Earth's crust
Silicon & oxygen
Why is color not always a reliable way to identify a mineral?
Many minerals have the same color
Fluorite has a hardness of 4. Feldspar has a hardness of 6. Which mineral can scratch the other?
Feldspar can scratch Flourite
What is phosphorescence?
The ability of a fluorescent mineral to continue to glow for a time after ultraviolet light is no longer focused on it
What 4 questions are asked to determine whether a substance is a mineral or not?
1. Is it natural?
2. Is it inorganic?
3. Is it a crystalline solid?
4. Does it have a definite chemical composition?
The number of oxygen atoms in a silicon-oxygen tetrahedron
What is 4
The unit for density if mass is measured in grams and volume is measured in mL
What is grams per mL or g/mL
Topaz has a hardness of 9. What do we know about the streak of topaz?
It would scratch the streak plate
The bending of a light wave due to a change in the wave's speed as it passes from one medium to another
Refraction