Properties of Minerals

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Properties of Minerals

• Chapter 2

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1. Color

• One of the most valuable properties
• Free of impurities a mineral has a characteristic
  color

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2. Luster

• Shine depends on the surface and the way the
  light is reflected
• metallic and non-metallic
• Example Gold!

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Non-metallic Luster

• Vitreous shines like glass
• Resinous like wax
• Earthy like dry mud or clay
• Adamantine brilliant like a diamond
• Dull
• Greasy
• Oily
• Fibrous

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3. Streak

• Is its color when it is crushed into fine powder
• Use a streak plate usually porcelain
• Mineral cannot be harder than the plate
• Metallic dark
• Non-metallic lighter

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4. Hardness

• How resistant to scratching
• Related to the chemical bonds
• Compared to a set of common items hardness
  (MOHs hardness scale or prospectors scale)

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• In 1822, Friedrich Mohs, a German mineralogist
  devised a crude but practical method of comparing
  hardness or scratch resistance of minerals.

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Hardness    Mineral  Absolute Hardness 
1 Talc 1
2 Gypsum 2
3 Calcite 9
4 Fluorite 21
5 Apatite 48
6 Orthoclase Feldspar 72
7 Quartz 100
8 Topaz 200
9 Corundum 400
10 Diamond 1500
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5. Cleavage

• Is the tendency to split easily in certain
  directions
• Determined by the crystal structure

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6. Crystal Habit

• Arrangement of atoms determines shape of crystals
• Always the same and often unique in each mineral

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7. Density/Specific Gravity

• Mass per unit volumespecific gravity
• SG is how many times the body weighs more than an
  equal volume of water
• Compare to quartz
• High Medium Low
• Heavier same lighter

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8. Magnetism

• Few minerals are magnetic
• Magnetite is an example

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9. Radioactivity

• Breakdown of atoms by giving off energy and
  subatomic particles

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10. Fluorescence

• Some minerals glow different colors under a UV or
  black light
• Calcite
• Fluorite
• If light is removed still glowing called
  phosphorescent
• Takes impurities to glow or activators

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11. Acid Test and Effervescence

• Dilute acid (effervescence) reaction
• Calcite

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Starting at Page 26 in your Textbook

• Granite is made up of what two things?
• What is a mineral?
• What is a crystalline?
• How does rock salt form? What is it made up of?
  What is the chemical formula?
• What are the three reasons for Halites physical
  and chemical properties?
• Define each
• Element
• Atom
• Proton
• Neutron
• Electron
• Nucleus
•  

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Use the example of water

• 7.What is the chemical formula of water?
• 8.What are the 2 elements in water?
• 9.How many atoms total are there in water?
• 10.Draw a picture of a water molecule.

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Boxed Reading 2.1

• Read and see if you can determine what is so
  AMAZING about WATER!
• 11. What is so amazing about water?

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Boxed Reading 2.2

• 12. What is the difference between ionic bonding
  and covalent bonding? Give an example of each.

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• 13.  Silicon is the element used to make what
  common item?
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• 14.  Silica is the term for _____________
  combined with _____________________.
•  
• 15.  What are silicates?
•  
• 16.  What is the third most abundant element in
  rocks? 
•   
• 17.  The element copper is used for what?

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Boxed Reading 2.3

• 18. What is Asbestos?
• What are some industrial uses of Asbestos?
• 20. Where does it get a bad rep?

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Crystallinity

• 21.  What are the two most abundant element of
  the crust?
• 22.  Silicon-Oxygen Tetrahedron is made up of
• _____Silicon
• _____Oxygen

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Minerals

• 23. What 3 conditions must be satisfied for a
  substance to be a mineral?
• 24.  What is the chemical formula for
• Quartz
• Halite
• Olivine