1 / 15

Minerals

Minerals. What is a mineral?. Any substance that: Is naturally occuring. Is solid Is organic Has a definite chemical composition. Has a crystal system. Naturally Occuring. Anything that is found/created in nature. Most minerals are formed: From cooled water solutions. From Cooled magma

naoko
Download Presentation

Minerals

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Minerals

  2. What is a mineral? Any substance that: • Is naturally occuring. • Is solid • Is organic • Has a definite chemical composition. • Has a crystal system

  3. Naturally Occuring • Anything that is found/created in nature. • Most minerals are formed: • From cooled water solutions. • From Cooled magma • From evaporation of solutions.

  4. Inorganic:Any material that did not form from living material. - Some rocks are organic (coal, limestone).

  5. Definite Chemical Composition A mineral will always have certain elements in distinct proportions. - Some are pure elements: EX: Gold = Au Silver = Ag - Some are compounds: EX: Pyrite = FeS2 Quartz = SiO2

  6. Crystal Systems Crystal Structure: The Repeating Pattern of a mineral’s particles. • Shape of the crystal depends on its definite chemical composition. • Size depends on how quickly the mineral cooled. • The faster = smaller • The smaller = larger

  7. Mineral properties There are 8 characteristics that are unique between different minerals. • Hardness • Luster • Streak • Breakage • Crystal shape • Color • Special Properties • Density (Specific Gravity)

  8. hardness The measure of how easily a mineral can be scratched. Moh’s Hardness Scale • Tested by performing a scratch test. • On a scale 1-10 1 = softest (Talc) 10 = hardest (diamond)

  9. Luster How a mineral reflects light. - EX: Metallic Glassy/Vitreous

  10. Streak Color left behind by a mineral. Tested by: Scraping a mineral against a piece of unglazed tile and observing the color left behind.

  11. breakage How a mineral breaks apart. 2 ways a mineral can break: 1) Cleavage:Breaks with clean smooth edges. 2) Fracture: Breaks with rough uneven edges.

  12. Crystal systems The shape of a mineral’s crystal. • Determined by the chemical composition. • Common: • Hexagonal • Cubic • Triclinic • Monoclinic

  13. Color: The color of the mineral itself. Cannot be used alone to identify a mineral because many minerals can come in many different colors. Density (specific gravity): How much a mineral weighs depending on how big it is. D = m/v (mass/volume) Color and Density

  14. Special properties Some minerals exhibit unique characteristics • Magnetism • Radioactivity • Fluorescence • Etc…

  15. How are these used? We use these 8 properties to identify an unknown mineral. - Tests are performed and compared to known minerals and their properties.

More Related