Access Prior Knowledge Lesson 5: How are Minerals Identified?

1. Access Prior Knowledge Lesson 5: How are Minerals Identified? Opening Activity Open Science textbook to page 276. Open Science workbook to page 90A to review home learning. Open Science folder to review vocabulary words and outline for the chapter. Open Science journal and answer the following questions: 1. How are mechanical and chemical weathering the same and 
 different? Review Content Cards and Q-Cards in bin, sharing with partners quizzing each other 
quietly. Log in to clickers using student ID number. Be ready to review home learning when timer goes off. Don't forget to write your 
home learning in your 
agenda page 92A.

2. Do you agree with the statement? 1 You can find minerals in the rocks and soil of Earth. Yes No

3. Do you agree with the statement? 2 All minerals have the same level of hardness. Yes No

4. Do you agree with the statement? 3 You can classify minerals by how shiny they look. Yes No

5. Do you agree with the statement? 4 Scientists have already identified every mineral that exists on Earth. Yes No

6. Properties of Minerals A mineral is a natural solid whose particles make a pattern. 
Soil and rocks are made of minerals. There are many different minerals. However, only a few 
dozen minerals make up most of the rocks on Earth. Every mineral has certain properties. Minerals can give off a 
sweet, earthy smell, or a rotten egg smell. Some minerals 
make tiny bubbles when they touch chemicals called acids.

7. Properties of Minerals Hardness: Some minerals are harder than others. The Mohs scale is 
used to tell how hard a mineral is. The scale rates the hardness of 
minerals from 1 to 10. Talc is the softest mineral. It has a hardness of 
1. Diamonds are the hardest minerals. They have a hardness of 10. Magnetism: Some minerals have magnetic properties. Pyrrhotite and 
magnetite are minerals that are strongly magnetic. Luster: Luster is the way a mineral’s surface reflects light. A mineral’s 
luster can be glassy, earthy, metallic, waxy, silky, or pearly. Shape: Not all minerals have specific shapes. But pyrite, for example, 
is shaped like cubes. A mineral’s shape will cause the mineral to 
break in specific patterns. Streak: Scientists rub minerals on a hard, rough, white surface. This 
makes a powder. The color of the powder is a mineral’s streak. A 
mineral’s streak is usually different from the minerals outside color. Texture: Texture is how a mineral feels. A mineral’s texture might be 
sandy, sticky, smooth, or powdery.

8. Using Properties to Identify Minerals Scientists record the properties of unknown minerals. Then they 
compare these observations to minerals they have already studied. Mineral Identification

9. MatchQuest Use the chart on page 284 to identify minerals. This mineral has a 
gritty texture and 
dull to glassy luster. 
It smells like a 
rotten egg and has a 
white streak. Arsenopyrite Talc Muscovite Halite Sulfur Florite

10. TextQuest 1. What is a mineral? 2. What properties are used to identify 
minerals? 3. How is a mineral's streak 
determined? Don't forget to write your 
home learning in your 
agenda page 92A.