Earth Structures: Minerals

Minerals are

• Solid non living material formed by nature that has a crystal form with its own set of properties.

• The way a mineral reflects light. It can be describes as shiny, dull, glassy, metallic, and pearly.

• A measure of how easily a mineral can be scratched. A mineral can be very soft, hard and somewhere inbetween.

• The color of a mineral in powdered form when it is scratched on a white tile.m

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-1

NGSS.MS-PS1-2

What is luster?

• Solid non living material formed by nature that has a crystal form with its own set of properties.

• The way a mineral reflects light. It can be describes as shiny, dull, glassy, metallic, and pearly.

• A measure of how easily a mineral can be scratched. A mineral can be very soft, hard and somewhere inbetween.

• The color of a mineral in powdered form when it is scratched on a white tile.m

What is hardness

?

• Solid non living material formed by nature that has a crystal form with its own set of properties.

• The way a mineral reflects light. It can be describes as shiny, dull, glassy, metallic, and pearly.

• A measure of how easily a mineral can be scratched. A mineral can be very soft, hard and somewhere inbetween.

• The color of a mineral in powdered form when it is scratched on a white tile.m

What is streak?

• Solid non living material formed by nature that has a crystal form with its own set of properties.

• The way a mineral reflects light. It can be describes as shiny, dull, glassy, metallic, and pearly.

• A measure of how easily a mineral can be scratched. A mineral can be very soft, hard and somewhere inbetween.

• The color of a mineral in powdered form when it is scratched on a white tile.m

What is cleavage?

• The tendency of a mineral to break along flat surfaces.

• The way a mineral reflects light. It can be describes as shiny, dull, glassy, metallic, and pearly.

• A measure of how easily a mineral can be scratched. A mineral can be very soft, hard and somewhere inbetween.

• The color of a mineral in powdered form when it is scratched on a white tile.m

Some students have gathered a collection of rock samples from the school yard to study. They scraped the rocks against a piece of quartz from the school lab. Which property of minerals are the students investigating?

• texture

• hardness

• color

• streak

Granite is classified as a rock because it

• is made of minerals

• is hard and rounded

• has crystals

• has mass

An unknown mineral will scratch feldspar but will not scratch corundum.

Based on Mohs scale, which mineral is most likely the unknown mineral?

• calcite

• apatite

• topaz

• diamon

Which statement is true about rocks?

• minerals are made of rocks

• Crystals are made of rocks

• Rocks are made of one or more minerals

• Magma is made of solid rock

During science class, a teacher explains that the samples the students are studying are made of two or more minerals. What are the students studying?

• gases

• rocks

• elements

• molecules

Tags

NGSS.MS-ESS2-3