Minerals and their properties study guide
What is a mineral?
A natural formed solid substance with a crystal structure.
Cleavage is the way a mineral;
Breaks.
What is the hardest mineral according to the Moh's hardness scale?
Diamond with the hardness of 10.
True or false/ You can identify a mineral by its color and nothing else.
False
True or false/ The streak a mineral leaves is always the same color as the mineral itself.
False.
Fredrick Mohs designed a scale to test a mineral's;
Hardness.
What is cleavage?
How long a mineral breaks along a flat surface.
What is fracture?
How often a mineral breaks unevenly, curved, or rigidly.
If you find a mineral and you can scratch it with your fingernail, it must have a hardness of;
Less than 3 because ur fingernail's hardness if 2.5
What is the way a mineral reflects light?
Luster.
What is the way light is reflected from a mineral?
Luster.
How can density be calculated?
Mass divided by volume.
Differentiate between metallic and nonmetallic luster.
Metallic is things that have shiny surfaces and don't let light pass through. Nonmetallic has shiny or dull surfaces, may let light pass through them.
What are all rocks made of?
Minerals.
True or False/ Talc can be used as a good cutting tool. Why or why not? What could be a better mineral to use?
No because talc is very soft. A better mineral would be diamond because it is hard, sharp, and a 10 on the Moh's scale.
What are the four characteristics of a mineral?
Solid/ formed in nature/ inorganic/ crystalline structure.
What is the softest mineral according to the Moh's hardness scale?
Talc with the hardness of 1.
What is the softest mineral according to the Moh's hardness scale?
Talc with the hardness of a 1
What are the possible values for hardness that could be assigned to talc and gypsum?
Talc- 1, Gypsum- 2
What is a streak?
The color of the mineral left behind when it is rubbed against a streak plate.
A mineral with a hardness of 4 rubbed against mineral with a hardness of 7. What could possibly happen to the minerals?
The mineral with the hardness of 7 probably scratched the hardness of 4.
What is hardness?
The mineral's resistance to being scratched.
What is density?
The ratio of the mass of a substance to the volume of the substance.