Guiding Question
What is a mineral and how do
we identify minerals?
 What
Do NOW:
do we call the items on your
tray?
 What similarities do these items
share? What differences do you
observe?
 Where do we find these items?
 Can you name or identify any of
these items?
 Can you think of any ways that we
use these items in the real world?
MINERALS
Use the guided note sheet to take notes today.
The building blocks of rocks…..
Did any of you use minerals before coming to school this
morning???
All of these items used to build a house
are made of minerals!
How Minerals Affect Your Life
The Average American will use -

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30,415 pounds of salt
1.7 million pounds of stone, sand and gravel
83,890 gallons of petroleum
42,581 pounds of iron ore
1,078 pounds of lead
**Total – 3.75 million pounds of minerals, metals and fuels
in your lifetime!!
MINERALS
= a naturally occurring, inorganic solid
with a definite chemical composition and a
particular crystalline structure
(orderly arrangement of atoms)
1) Naturally occurring
Formed in processes on or in the
earth with no human input
2) Inorganic
Not made by living process
*It has never been alive!

Amber and sugar are not
minerals because they
formed from living things.
3) Definite chemical composition

All minerals are elements or compounds
with definite chemical composition
ex) mineral halite (NaCl) has a distinctive salty
taste
-Copper (Cu)
- Beryl (Be3Al2Si6A18)
4) Crystal Structure
The atoms of the mineral are arranged in patterns that
repeat over and over again.
ex) Graphite versus Diamond

Uses of Minerals….
Ores - used for metals, extracted by
mining (ex. iron)
Gems – rare and beautiful, often
used for jewelry
Now let’s master minerals!!
What are some physical properties we know?
Here are physical properties we will use to
identify minerals:
Color


Many different minerals have the same
color and appearance… example pyrite and
gold
Color is measured by looking at the sample.
Luster




The way the mineral reflects light.
Either metallic or non-metallic.
Nonmetallic can be: Dull, Pearly, Silky,
and Glassy
Measured by visually viewing the mineral
Streak
The color of the mineral in the
powdered form. Example: Gold has a
yellowish streak. Pyrite has a greenishblack streak.
 Measured by scratching the mineral on a
“streak” plate and viewing the color of
the powder left on the plate.

Hardness
Hardness is the ability of a mineral to resist being
scratched.
Measured by using
Mohs Hardness Scale

Diamond is the hardest
mineral. On a scale from
1-10, diamond is a 10!
Practice
You find a mineral and conduct a scratch test on
it. It cannot be scratched with a fingernail, but
it can be scratched by an iron nail.
Using Mohs
hardness scale,
what is the
hardness?