Identifying Minerals

Pick your favorite mineral property

• Make a bumper sticker saying ie:

Color

• caused by the presence of other trace elements.

Luster• The way a mineral reflects light• Metallic• Glassy• Adamantine • Silky• Pearly • Pitchy • Waxy • Dull

Texture

• Describes how a mineral feels to touchSmoothRoughRagged GreasySoapy

Streak

• Color of a mineral when it is broken up and powdered.

Hardness

• Measures how easily a mineral can be scratched.

• “Moh’s Hardness Scale”

Cleavage and Fracture

• Atomic structure determines how a mineral will break.

• Minerals break along weak atomic bonds.

• Cleavage occurs if a mineral breaks along a plane (flat surface)

Cleavage and Fracture

• Fracture occurs when minerals break with rough or jagged edges.

• Conchoidal fracture results in a circular pattern.

Density and Specific Gravity

Density = Mass/Volume

Specific Gravity– Ratio of weight of a substance to the weight of an

equal volume of water at 4°C.

Mineral uses

Ores– Contain a useful

substance that can be mined.

Ex: hematite mined for Fe, Bauxite for Al

Mineral uses

Gems– Minerals that are prized

for their rarity and beauty.

– Rubies and Emeralds are more valuable than diamonds.

– YouTube - The Diamond process from the Mine to the Market

Bumper Sticker

• I Dig Rocks…Check Out My Lustre• You Rock—Moh says you are a 10