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Minerals & Their Properties

Minerals & Their Properties. These notes go on pages 5 and 7 of your INB!. http://www.mii.org/www.mii.org. General Facts about Minerals. Between 2 - 3,000 have been identified A few are “native elements” -- made of only one element, such as sulfur, gold. copper, and graphite (carbon)

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Minerals & Their Properties

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  1. Minerals & Their Properties These notes go on pages 5 and 7 of your INB!

  2. http://www.mii.org/www.mii.org

  3. General Facts about Minerals • Between 2 - 3,000 have been identified • A few are “native elements” -- made of only one element, such as sulfur, gold. copper, and graphite (carbon) • Most are compounds, especially the silicate group (Si, O). • Other important groups are oxides, carbonates, and sulfides

  4. The 5 characteristics • Remember the acronym ISODA! Inorganic Solid Occurs Naturally Defined chemical composition Arranged in a crystal

  5. Mineral Groups • grouped by the elements they are made of • most abundant group are silicates, which are most of the rock-forming minerals Copper Silver Ruby

  6. QUARTZ MICA

  7. Calcite with Duftite inclusions

  8. Most Common Minerals: • Quartz • Feldspar (group) • Muscovite (white mica) • Biotite (black mica) • Calcite • Pyroxene • Olivine • Amphibole (group) • Magnetite, limonite, and other iron oxides • Pyrite

  9. Minerals are identified by their properties: • hardness • crystal shape (form) • luster • color • streak • cleavage/fracture • density or specific gravity • special properties --reaction to acid --fluorescence --salty taste --magnetism

  10. Color • least useful property for identification: • some minerals have more than one color • more than one type of mineral can have the same color

  11. Luster • describes how light reflects off the surface • Main categories are metallic and non-metallic • Non-metallic includes: dull, glassy, waxy, pearly, earthy

  12. Hardness • ability to scratch another mineral • Mohs hardness scale from 1 (talc) to 10 (diamond) • Quartz (most common mineral and most dust particles) is a 7

  13. We use a scratch plate to determine hardness.

  14. Streak • color of the powder when rubbed on a streak plate (unglazed porcelain) • “true color” • may be same as hand-specimen or different • mineral must be softer than the streak plate

  15. cleavage/fracture • Some minerals split along flat surfaces when struck hard--cleavage • Other minerals break unevenly along rough or curved surfaces-- fracture • few minerals have both cleavage and fracture

  16. 1. 4. 3. 2. Cleavage or Fracture?

  17. Density & Specific Gravity • All minerals have density (mass / volume), but some are very dense • Specific Gravity is the density of the mineral compared with density of water (1 g/ml)

  18. Special Characteristics • Acid Test: some minerals react to a dilute acid by fizzing (e.g. Carbonate mineral group) • Smell: some have a very distint smell (e.g. Sulfur) • Taste: certain taste (e.g. Halite, which tastes salty) • Attraction to magnets (e.g. magnetite & other iron minerals) • Fluorescence is when minerals glow under UV light

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