1. Minerals

2. Agenda
Notes
Practice Worksheet

3. What is a mineral?
Definition:
A mineral is a naturally formed, inorganic solid that has a definite crystalline structure.

4. What is a mineral? Solid Naturally Occurring Inorganic
Properties:
Solid
Cannot be a liquid or a gas
Naturally Occurring
Found in nature, not man-made
Inorganic
Is not alive and never was, non-living
Fixed composition
Has a chemical formula, most are formed from compounds of two or more elements, some minerals consist of one element ex. Au
Crystal Form
A definite structure in which atoms are arranged

5. The next few slides show an assortment of items.
Questions to ask yourself when determining if an item is a mineral or not:
Is it non-living material?
Is it a solid?
Is it formed in nature?
Does it have a crystalline structure?
The next few slides show an assortment of items.
As a group, categorize the items as either:
Minerals or Non-Minerals.

6. Wood

7. Gold

8. Fossil

9. Topaz

10. Bones

11. Granite

12. Quartz

13. Pearls

14. Talc

15. Diamond

16. Coal

17. Rock Salt

18. And the answers are… Minerals Non-Minerals Gold Topaz Quartz Talc
Diamonds
Non-Minerals
Wood - once living
Fossils – once living
Bone - living material
Granite - intrusive igneous rock
Pearls – made by oysters
Coal - Sedimentary rock
Rock Salt – Sedimentary rock

19. Minerals vs Rocks Rocks are made of more than 1 mineral
Minerals are formed some of the same ways as rocks
Cooling of Magma
Precipitation from Water
Heat and Pressure
Hydrothermal Solutions

20. Gemstones
Gemstones are minerals or rocks that are rare and considered precious (pretty in appearance).
When cut and polished, it is used for jewelry.

21. Identifying Characteristics of Minerals
Color
Streak
Luster
Cristal Form
Hardness
Cleavage
Fracture
Density

22. Color
 Small amounts of different elements can give the same mineral different colors.

23. Streak
 Streak is the color of a mineral in its powdered form.

24. Luster
 Luster is used to describe how light is reflected from the surface of a mineral.

25. Crystal Form
 Crystal form is the visible expression of a mineral’s internal arrangement of atoms.

26. Hardness
 Hardness is a measure of the resistance of a mineral to being scratched.
Mohs scale consists of 10 minerals arranged from 10 (hardest) to 1 (softest).
Items higher on the scale can scratch items lower on the scale

27. Cleavage
 Cleavage is the tendency of a mineral to cleave, or break, along flat, even surfaces.

28. Fracture
 Minerals that do not show cleavage when broken are said to fracture.
 Fracture is the uneven breakage of a mineral

29. Density
 Density is a property of all matter that is the ratio of an object’s mass to its volume.

30. Distinctive Characteristics
 Some minerals can be recognized by other distinctive characteristics such as
- magnetic
- radioactive
- chemical reaction
- taste