Rocks and Minerals

Minerals break in different ways. Some break into thin sheets while others break into squares. What property of minerals is this?

• cleavage

• hardness

• luster

• streak

Which of these observations describes a minerals luster?

• brittle

• shiny

• brown

• hard

Which rock is formed by lava that has cooled quickly?

• sedimentary

• metamorphic

• igneous

• sandstone

Which rock is formed by layers of material that settled on the bottom of an ocean?

• sedimentary

• igneous

• metamorphic

• obsidian

Paolo wanted to identify a mineral. He rubbed a corner of the mineral across a white tile and recorded the color of the mark. What property was Paolo measuring?

• cleavage

• color

• streak

• luster

Minerals and rocks are not exactly the same. How are minerals and rocks related to each other?

• Minerals are groups of related rocks.

• Minerals have crystals, but rocks do not.

• Rocks are made up of one or more minerals.

• Rocks contain different chemical compounds than minerals.

Minerals are identified and sorted by different characteristics. Luster is one way to sort minerals into different types. What is a mineral’s luster?

• the way that light reflects from its surface

• the mineral’s elements and their arrangement

• the color that it makes when rubbed on a tile

• the way that it breaks when you strike it with a wedge

Sheila is classifying the rocks in her collection. She knows that limestone often contains fossils. In which category of rock should she classify these rocks?

• igneous

• granite

• metamorphic

• sedimentary

Both igneous rock and sedimentary rock can turn into metamorphic rock. What two conditions are necessary for this to happen?

• heat and erosion

• heat and pressure

• weathering and erosion

• weathering and pressure

Minerals have various physical properties. The illustration below shows a tool that is used to test a physical property of minerals.

What physical property of a mineral is tested using this tool?

• cleavage

• color

• luster

• streak