SCIENCE Flashcards
Rock-forming minerals
20 minerals that make up most of the rocks of Earth’s crust.
Granite
A light-colored rock that has high silica content.
Basalt
A dark-colored rock that has a lower silica content than granite has.
Grains
Particles of minerals or other rocks.
Igneous rock
Forms from the cooling of magma and lava.
Texture
The look and feel of a rock’s surface.
Sedimentary rock
Forms when small particles or the remains of plants and animals are pressed together.
Metamorphic rock
Forms when a rock is changed by heat or pressure, or by chemical reactions.
Streak
The color of a mineral’s powder.
Fracture
How a mineral breaks apart in an irregular way.
Mohs Hardness Scale
A ranking of minerals from softest to hardest.
Inorganic
Formed from materials that were not parts of living things.
Cleavage
The property of splitting easily along flat surfaces.
Crystal
The repeating pattern of a mineral’s particles in a solid.
Solution
A mixture in which one substance is dissolved in another.
