1. Minerals Mar 3 2009

2. Minerals are all non-living solid material most minerals are rare. Like gold common minerals are found throughout the earth’s crust. Like talc a mineral can be an element (a pure substance) or a compound (two or more substances)

3. Identifying Minerals 1) The Mohs hardness scale  - German scientist, Friedrich Mohs developed a scale of mineral “hardness”  - a useful tool for mineral identification because there are over 3000 minerals

4. The Mohs Hardness Scale MineralMineral hardnessHardness of Common Objects Talc1 softestSoft pencil point Gypsum2Fingernail Calcite3Piece of copper Fluorite4Iron nail Apatite5Glass Feldspar6Steel file Quartz7Streak plate Topaz8Sandpaper Corundum9Emery paper Diamond10

5. 2) Lustre some minerals, such as gold, appear shiny. some minerals, like talc, can appear dull. the lustre of an object depends on how light is reflected from it’s surface.

6. 3) Colour colour is the most attractive properties of minerals

7. 4) Cleavage and Fracture if a mineral breaks in smooth flat surfaces it has cleavage minerals which break with rough or jagged edges it has fracture