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Minerals
Chapter 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| mineral | a naturally occurring, inorganic solid that has a crystal structure and definite chemical composition |
| inorganic | not formed from living things or the remains of living things |
| crystal | a solid in which the atoms are arranged in a pattern that repeats again and again |
| streak | the color of a mineral's powder |
| luster | the way a mineral reflects light from its surface |
| Mohs hardness scale | a scale ranking ten minerals from softest to hardest, used in testing the hardness of minerals |
| cleavage | a mineral's ability to split easily along flat surfaces |
| fracture | the way a mineral looks when it breaks apart in an irregular way |
| geode | a hollow rock inside which mineral crystals have grown |
| crystallization | the process by which atoms are arranged to form a material with a crystal structure |
| solution | a mixture containing a solvent and at least one solute that has the same properties throughout; a mixture in which one substance is dissolved into another |
| vein | a narrow deposit of a mineral that is sharply different from the surrounding rock |
| mass | a measure of how much matter is in an object |
| volume | the amount of space that matter occupies |
| density | the measurement of how much mass of a substance is contained in a given volume |