Mineral Properties

Question 1

A natural substance with distinctive physical and chemical properties, composition, and atomic structure.

Answer 1

Minerals

Question 2

What is the 4 part definition of a mineral ?

Answer 2

Naturally occurring.
Inorganic substance.
Crystalline solid.
Definite chemical composition.

Question 3

What do you call substances that meet three of the four criteria?

Answer 3

Mineralloids

Question 4

What is an example of a mineraloid?

Answer 4

Opal, because it doesn’t have an orderly arrangement of atoms

Question 5

How many minerals are there?

Answer 5

There are 3500 known minerals in the Earth’s crust.

Question 6

How are all rocks on earth formed?

Answer 6

Minerals combine to form ALL rocks

Question 7

What does rock type depend on?

Answer 7

Mineral Composition

Question 8

How many minerals combine to form most rocks on earth?

Answer 8

20 minerals combine to form 95% of all rocks on earth

Question 9

Minerals have at least this many physical properties that can be used to define or describe, or identify them.
How many and can you name them?

Answer 9

There are 8 main properties: Color, Luster, Streak, Hardness, External Crystal Form, Cleavage, Fracture, Specific Gravity

(Apparently Density is part but it’s not in the powerpoint.)

Question 10

Do all minerals have some color?

Answer 10

Yes, and some are found in multiple colors

Question 11

Would you use just a color to define a mineral?

Answer 11

It would be helpful and distinctive, but it can also be very ambiguous

Question 12

Name the types of Luster.

Answer 12

Glassy, Metallic

(Apparently Dull is part but it’s not in the powerpoint.)

Question 13

Type of Luster that reflects light like a piece of glass

Answer 13

Glass/Glassy

Question 14

Type of Luster that Reflects light like a piece of metal would

Answer 14

Metallic

Question 15

How can the streak color be important? In other words, how can using streak be better to identify a mineral than just a minerals color?

Answer 15

The color could be different from the crystals, actual color, and is always distinctive. (it is not ambiguous like just the crystals color.)

Question 16

The scratch-ability of a mineral, or a minerals durability

Answer 16

Hardness

Question 17

Which scale do you use to measure hardness? Describe how things are measured.

Answer 17

Moh’s scale
It is measured on a system of 1-10
1 = very soft.
10 = hardest substance known to man

Question 18

Streak plate has a hardness of _____

Answer 18

7

Question 19

A set of faces that have a definite geometric relationship and shape

Answer 19

Crystal Shape/ External Crystal Form/ Crystal Systems

Question 20

Three axes of equal length, all axes at right angles to each other.

Answer 20

Isometric

Question 21

Three axes, two equal length, third is longer

All axes at right angles to each other.

Answer 21

Tetragonal

Question 22

Three equal axes in the same plane

Intersect at angles