What Are Minerals?

____________ are solids, nonliving, and chemical elements found in nature.

• Plants
• Animals
• Minerals
• Water

__________ describes how easily a mineral can be scratched.

• Hardness
• Luster

• Cleavage

• Color

__________ describes how the surface of a mineral reflects light.

• Cleavage

• Hardness

• Streak

• Luster

Color can be the only property you use to identify minerals.

• True

• False

_________ is used to define the hardness of a mineral.

• Mohs scale
• Transparency scale
• Color scale
• Density scale

________ is the hardest mineral.

• Quartz
• Talc
• Diamond
• Coal

Diamond can only be scratched by ___________

• opal

• another diamond
• talc

• quartz

According to the Mohs scale, which of the following can be scratched by gypsum?

• Quartz
• Talc
• Feldspar
• Diamond

According to the Mohs scale, which of the following cannot be scratched by corundum?

• Quartz
• Talc
• Feldspar
• Diamond

__________ is the color of the powder a mineral leaves behind when it is rubbed across a white surface.

• Streak
• Cleavage

• Luster

• Hardness