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What Are Minerals?
-A mineral is a solid nonliving substance that occurs
naturally in rocks or in the ground.
-The physical properties of minerals.
1-color:
Color gives obvious clue that help you identify minerals; however it alone isn’t
enough to recognize minerals.
Why??? Because minerals as Pyrite (also called fool’s gold ) and Gold are both
gold in colour and can appear similar.
-So you need to look at the other properties
of minerals to be able to differentiate them.
Pyrite
Gold
2-Streak:
-When a mineral is rubbed across a piece of porcelain tile, a streak of powdered
mineral is left behind.
Streak is the colour of a mineral when
it is in powdered form.
For example : Gold has a yellow streak while
Pyrite has a greenish black streak.
The way a mineral breaks helps identify it
This is determined by the arrangement of mineral atoms.
3-Cleavage: means that a mineral breaks along smooth flat surface.
e.g: Mica cleavage.
Fracture: means that minerals break into irregular pieces.
e.g: Quartz is a mineral with fracture.
4-Density is the amount of mass in a given volume.
Gold is much denser than pyrite.
You can tell two minerals apart by comparing their densities.
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5-Hardness:
A measure of how easily a mineral can be scratched.
-The Austrian scientist Friedrich Mohs
developed a list of common minerals
to compare their hardness.
Mohs scale.
-Talc: is so soft you scratch it loose
with finger nail.
-Diamond: is the hardest mineral.
3-Luster: is the way a mineral reflects light.
Luster can be metallic (shines like a metal) as Graphite
or non-metallic as Quartz .
Graphite has metallic luster while Quartz has non-metallic luster.
-Choose the best answer:
1-Tallulah’s aunt gave her a pearl ring. Tallulah discovered that certain oysters produce
pearls in their shells. Why aren’t pearls considered minerals?
Minerals are not solids.
Minerals do not form in nature.
Minerals form only square crystals.
Minerals are not made by living things
2-Paolo wants to identify a mineral. He rubs a corner of the mineral across a white tile and
records the color of the mark. What property is Paolo measuring?
color
luster
streak
cleavage
3-Franco is testing some mineral properties. The results of his test are shown in the picture.
Which property is Franco testing?
luster
streak
cleavage
hardness
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4-Elena recorded her observations about some
minerals in this data table.
Mineral
Calcite
nonmetallic white
reacts with acid
Elena forgot to label the second column. What should
the label be?
Magnetite
metallic
black
magnetic
Quartz
glassy
none
breaks along
uneven planes
Breakage
Hardness
Crystal shape
Luster
Streak
5-The hardest mineral, with a 10 on the Mohs scale, is __________.
a-Talc
b-Diamond.
c-Quartz.
d-Iron.
6- What is a measure of how easily a mineral can be scratched?
a- luster
b-Hardness
c-Cleavage
d-Fracture
7-Which mineral is the softest according to Mohs scale?
a-Diamond
b-Gold
c-Silver
d-Talc
8-After whom is the scale of hardness named?
a-Neil Armstrong
b-Friedrich Mohs
c-Alfred Wegener
d-Thomas Edison
9- Streak measures the color of a mineral's __________.
a-powder
b-atoms
c-crystals
d-surface
Put true(T) or false(F) and correct the wrong ones:
1-Mohs scale is used to compare the lusture of minerals(
2-Diamond is the softest mineral (
)
3-Both Gold and pyrite have golden streak(
)
4-Diamond has a hardness of 10 on Mohs scale(
5-Talc has a hardness of 3 on Mohs scale(
).
)
)
6-Hardness is the way a mineral reflects light. (
)
7- Cleavage means that a mineral breaks along smooth flat surface.(
)
Other
characteristics
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Rocks
A rock: is a naturally formed solid that
is made up of one or more types of minerals.
The three types of rocks are classified by how they form.
1-Ignoeuos rock:
It forms when molten rocks cool and harden.
Igneous rock can form inside Earth as magma cools slowly;
it can also form on Earth’s surface.
2-Sedimentary rock:
A rock that forms from sediment that gets cemented together under pressure
Sedimentary rock may contain fossils, the remains or trace of a living thing,
Conglomerate
such as a bone.
Sedimentary rock forms from the sediment of eroded or weathered rock collected in layers.
3-Metamorphic rock:
It forms when heat and pressure causes older rocks to change into new types.
High temperature, high pressure, or super-hot fluids can cause metamorphic rock to form.
Marble is metamorphic rock that forms from heat and pressure on limestone.
Most metamorphic rock forms deep in Earth or when pieces of crust push to form mountains.
+ Heat
+ Pressure
Granite
Gneiss
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The rock cycle: The rock cycle is the sequence of processes that change rocks
over a long period.
Any type of rock can become any other type of rock in a process known as the rock cycle.
-Choose the best answer:
1-Like minerals, rocks have different properties. How are all rocks classified?
by color
by composition
by shape
by the way they formed
2-Roberta is learning about the rock cycle. She knows that weathering is one process
in this cycle. Which of the following is an example of weathering?
water breaking shale into smaller pieces
pressure changing limestone into marble
magma slowly cooling
lava quickly cooling
3-Different processes result in the formation of different kinds of rock. Which of
these rock cycle processes result in granite (igneous rock)?
weather and erosion
melting of rock and cooling of magma
compaction and cementation
a volcanic eruption and cooling of lava
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4-Heat and pressure can cause some rocks to change. What kind of rock forms as a
result of these conditions?
composite
metamorphic
igneous
sedimentary
5-Igneous rock forms when magma seeps through cracks in Earth’s surface, cools,
and hardens. How can igneous rock change to sedimentary rock?
Heat below Earth’s surface melts the igneous rock.
Forces break down the igneous rock and carry it away.
Heat and pressure cause the igneous rock to fold and bend.
Wind, water, and ice change the shape of the igneous rock.
6-Gino made some small, round balls out of clay. He placed them between two
pieces of wax paper. Gino put a heavy book on top of the waxed paper, pressed
down, and left the book there. What type of rock did Gino model?
basalt, a type of igneous rock
granite, a type of igneous rock
quartzite, a type of metamorphic rock
sandstone, a type of sedimentary rock
7-which process in the rock cycle causes magma to form?
a-Melting.
b-Erosion.
c-Weathering.
d-Cooling.
8-What forms when rocks are weathered and eroded?
a-Igneous rocks.
b-Sediments.
c-Metamorphic rocks.
d-Magma.
B.Match the clue on the left with the term on the right. Write the
letter in the blank.
1-rock that is changed from one form to another
by high heat and great pressure
A. igneous rock
2-rock formed when melted rock cools and hardens
B. sedimentary rock
3-rock formed by compacted and cemented particles
C. metamorphic rock
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C.Put the following changes to rocks in the correct sequence.
Number the events 1 to 3.
Sediment is cemented into a sedimentary rock.
Small pieces are weathered from a metamorphic rock.
Sediment is deposited in a different place.
D. Complete the graphic organizer below.
E-Draw a simple diagram for the rock cycle: