Minerals Flash Cards
How are minerals useful in industry and art? (2 ways)
1. Quartz and feldspar are used for glass. 2. Fluorite and calcite are used for toothpaste.
What is a crystal?
A crystal is a solid in which the atoms are arranged in orderly, repeating three-dimensional patterns.
When breaking a mineral, what does "fracture" mean?
A fracture is the tendency of a mineral to break into irregular pieces.
What is a mineral?
A mineral is a substance that forms in nature, is a solid, and has a definite chemical makeup. A mineral also has a crystal structure.
How could minerals form in water?
A mineral that is dissolved in water can form into solid crystals when the water evaporates.
A few minerals are radioactive. What does this mean?
A mineral that is radioactive has a tendency to release energy as its unstable elements change into other elements over time.
What is the definition of a rock?
A rock is a naturally formed solid made of one or more types of minerals. An example is limestone.
What is a "streak" when discussing how to test minerals?
A streak is the powder left behind when a mineral is scraped across a surface. You could use the color of the streak to see what mineral you have.
What is an element?
An element is a substance only contains one type of atom.
Can two minerals have the same chemical composition (ingredients) but different crystal structures?
Yes! Think about graphite and diamonds. Graphite is pencil lead and diamonds are gems. These are both made of carbon.
Does Silver have a metallic luster?
Yes, silver has a metallic luster. Silver looks shiny.
What are Carbonates?
Carbonates are a group of minerals that have carbon and oxygen joined together.
When breaking a mineral, what does "cleavage" mean?
Cleavage is the tendency of a mineral to break along flat surfaces.
You find a mineral on the ground. What properties could help you identify the mineral?
Color, Streak test, luster, how the mineral breaks, density, and hardness.
Name the two ways that minerals are formed.
Cooling magma and dissolving in water.
What does the term "density" mean?
Density is the amount of mass in a given volume of a substance.
What does the term fluorescence mean?
Fluorescence means glowing, so a mineral may "glow" when exposed to ultraviolet light.
What does the term "hardness" mean when discussing minerals?
Hardness is a mineral's resistance to being scratched.
What is lava?
Lava is molten rock that has reached the Earth's surface (above ground)
Why is liquid water not a mineral?
Liquid water does not have a solid structure. However, ice is a mineral because it has a solid structure.
What does "luster" mean?
Luster is the way in which light reflects off of a mineral's surface. This makes the mineral look shiny.
Many minerals grow from the cooling of lava or magma. What is magma?
Magma is molten rock inside Earth (located below ground.)
How do many minerals develop in nature?
Many minerals develop when molten rock cools.
Most rocks, and therefore the Earth's crust, are made of...
Minerals
Minerals have a definite chemical makeup. What does this mean?
Minerals are always made up of the same materials and in the same proportions. This means they have the same "ingredients."
How are minerals grouped together?
Minerals are grouped according to composition (what they are made of)
What are the two ways that minerals can break?
Minerals can either cleave (cleavage) or fracture.
Most minerals are made up of (a single/several) elements. (choose one)
Most minerals are made of several elements.
What is an "ore?"
Ores are rocks that contain enough of a mineral to be mined for a profit.
What are Oxides?
Oxides are a group of minerals where an element (usually a metal) are joined to oxygen. Example: Iron oxide = rust.
Is Quartz made from cooling magma and lava, or is quartz made from water evaporation?
Quartz is made from cooling magma and lava.
How could you tell the difference between real gold and fool's gold (pyrite)?
Real gold is much denser (heavier) than pyrite.
What are Silicates?
Silicates are groups of minerals containing oxygen and silicon that are joined together.
What is the softest mineral on Earth?
Talc is the softest mineral on Earth, and registers a 1 on the Mohs scale.
How many numbers are on the Mohs Scale? And what does this scale mean?
The Mohs scale is used to describe a mineral's hardness. It is numbered from 1 to 10.
What are diamonds and graphite both composed of?
The element Carbon
What is the hardest mineral on Earth?
The hardest mineral on Earth is the diamond. It is a 10 on the Mohs Scale.
True or False: Many minerals are mined.
True
True or False: Most minerals are combined with other minerals in rocks.
True
True or false: Gold is an element.
True! Gold is an element because it only has one type of atom.
How are minerals and rocks different? (3 ways)
1. Rocks only have two of the four characteristics (solid and form naturally). 2. Rocks usually contain two or more types of minerals. 3. Rocks do not have a definite chemical makeup because two samples of the same rock may vary greatly in the amount of minerals they contain.
On the Mohs Hardness scale, what is Gypsum's number of hardness?
2
On the Mohs Hardness scale, what is Calcite's number of hardness?
3
On the Mohs Hardness scale, what is Fluorite's number of hardness?
4
On the Mohs Hardness scale, what is Apatite's number of hardness?
5
On the Mohs Hardness scale, what is Feldspar's number of hardness?
6
On the Mohs Hardness scale, what is Quart'z number of hardness?
7
On the Mohs Hardness scale, what is Topaz's number of hardness?
8
On the Mohs Hardness scale, what is Corundum's number of hardness?
9
Silicates make up about ___% of the rocks in the Earth's crust.
90% These are the most common mineral in the Earth's crust.
What are the four characteristics of minerals?
They are a solid, they form in nature, they have a definite chemical makeup, and they have a crystal structure.
