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Minerals
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Minerals | naturally formed inorganic solid substance with a crystal structure that repeats itself. More than 4,000 known; 30 common; and 10 rock forming. They are nonrenewable because formation takes millions of years to complete |
| 5 characteristics of a mineral | 1. naturally formed - occur by a natural process 2. it must be non-living (inorganic) 3. be a solid 4. Predictable crystal pattern 5. Unique chemical composition |
| Silicates | combination of oxygen and silicon(most abundant elements in Earth's crust) Ex: quartz |
| Non-silicates | Minerals that do not contain silicon, Ex: Calcite |
| Formation of minerals | minerals form in a variety of environments; hot, cold, wet, dry; all minerals form through crystallization; particles dissolve in a liquid or melted material becomes solid to form crystals |
| Cool solution | 1. Water moves over rocks and soils and picks up minerals as dissolved solids 2. As the water evaporates, solids crystallize or if the water cannot hold any more minerals, they crystallize |
| Hot solution | 1. Water flows through cracks in the crust to hot places 2. Hot solutions carry larger amounts of minerals 3. The dissolved solids can fill the cracks in rocks and crystallize |
| Cooling of magma/lava | 1. As molten magma or lava cools, atoms arrange to form mineral crystals 2. The cooling rate determines the size of the crystal |
| Recrystallization | minerals can recrystallize under high temperature an high pressure |
| Properties of minerals | color, streak, cleavage, fracture, hardness, luster, and special properties |
| Color | visible color of the mineral; least reliable test; many minerals have the same color |
| Streak | The color of the powdered form of the mineral; the color of the streak can be different than the color of the mineral; minerals must be softer than the streak plate which is a 7 |
| Cleavage/Fracture | The way the mineral breaks; Cleavage- minerals break along smooth flat surfaces and every fragment has the same general shape; Fracture- minerals that break at random with rough edges |
| Hardness | How easily a mineral scratches materials; Mohs hardness scale is a scale from 1 to 10 and is a test to see if a mineral can scratch other objects |
| Luster | Surface reflection; Metallic- shiny like metal; Nonmetallic- dull, glassy, pearly |
Created by:
Ashley87923
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