What is a mineral?
What does naturally occurring mean?
Not man-made
What are the hardest and softest known minerals?
Diamond and talc
What do you call the process of atoms lining up into a crystal structure?
Crystallization
What do we call a hard, colorful mineral with a brilliant or glassy luster?
Gemstone
What term do we use to describe something that doesn't have any living material in it?
Inorganic
What term describes how a mineral reflects light?
Luster
What do you get when one substance dissolves in another?
Solution
Name some important uses for metals.
Tools, machinery, building materials
Are minerals made of rocks or are rocks made of minerals?
Rocks are made of minerals
Why is color not a good way to identify a mineral?
Different minerals can be the same color
Minerals can form when , or molten rock cools and hardens.
Magma or lava
What do you call someone who searches for ore deposits?
Prospector
What kind of structure do all minerals have?
Crystal
What is a mineral's streak?
The color of it's powder
What happens to the liquid in a hot water solution over time?
It evaporates
Name a mineral that is not a gemstone and say what it is used for.
Answers vary. An example would be quartz is used in watch-making.
Why is ice not a mineral?
It exists as liquid most of the time (minerals must be solid)
This term means a mineral breaks in a regular way, with clean edges and straight lines.
Cleavage
What landforms have the highest concentration of minerals around them throughout the world?
Mountains
Name the three types of mines.
Shaft, strip, open-pit