Minerals

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Minerals

• Notesred

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What is a mineral?

• A mineral is a naturally formed, inorganic solid
  with a crystalline structure.
• Not all minerals look like gems in fact, most
  look like rocks!
• Rocks are made of minerals but minerals are not
  made of rocks.

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Mineral vs Rock

• In order to be a mineral, it must have these four
  properties
• It has to be a solid
• It has to be formed in nature
• It has to be inorganic
• It has to have a crystalline structure
• But what do those mean?

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Solid

• The three phases of matter are solid, liquid, and
  gas.
• A solid has a defined shape it does not change.
• Minerals cannot be liquids or gases but can be
  found in and around liquids and gases.

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Formed in nature

• In order to be a mineral, it has to be created in
  nature.
• There are many things that are man-made items.
  These items, which can even sometimes look like
  minerals, are not minerals because they do not
  form in nature!
• It has to be naturally occurring! Something you
  could dig up or find lying around.

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Inorganic

• Inorganic means not organic or not living
• Minerals must be things that are not alive.

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Crystalline structure

• When you think of crystals you usually think of a
  rigid structure. The exact shape depends on the
  arrangement of atoms.
• Almost all minerals are made of the one chemical
  composition throughout.

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Chemical composition?

• composition what something is made of
• Minerals are made of elements. All minerals have
  one or more of the 92 elements that are present
  on the Earths crust.

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More on elements

• An element is made of only one kind of atom.
• An atom is the basic unit of an element.
• Some minerals have more than one element. These
  minerals are made of compounds of elements.
  (think compound words)
• A compound has 2 or more elements that are bonded
  together.

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Properties of minerals

• How can you tell two minerals apart? Scientists
  have organized mineral properties into categories
  to help identify unknown minerals.
• The seven major properties of minerals are
  Color, luster, streak, cleavage, fracture,
  hardness, and density.

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Color

• What color you see

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Luster

• How the mineral reflects light.
• Think shiny and dull

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Streak

• The color of the mineral when in powder form.
  Color does not equal streak!!!
• In order to find streak, the mineral needs to be
  rubbed against a porcelain streak plate.

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Cleavage

• How often a mineral breaks along a flat surface.

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Fracture

• How often a mineral breaks unevenly, curved, or
  rigidly. (Think fractured bones!)

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Hardness

• How resistant the mineral is to being scratched.
• Uses Mohs hardness scale