Chapter 6 Notes
Name:____________________________________
Minerals and Rocks
Date:__________________ Period:__________
Characteristics of Minerals
To be a mineral, a substance must meet ALL 5 of the following criteria:
1. It must be a ___________________.
2. It must occur in _____________________.
3. It must have a definable _______________________ composition (like _________).
4. It must have a _______________________ structure.
5. It must be _______________________. (This means it is not living and never was living.)
Properties Used to Identify Minerals

Color

Streak – the color of the ___________________ left behind when the mineral is scraped across a
___________________plate

Luster – the way a mineral ______________________________________
There are 3 types of mineral luster:
1. ___________________________ - bright, reflective
2. ___________________________ - dull, reflective
3. ___________________________ - dull
Some terms used to describe luster are: glassy, silky, resinous, ___________, pearly, and ___________.

Hardness – measured by ________________ Mineral Hardness Scale which ranks minerals on a scale
of ______ to ______ with 1 being the ______________________ and 10 being the
___________________.

Density – a measure of how tightly _____________________ together the atoms are in the mineral.
Minerals of the same size and shape will have different weights due to differences in density. Mica has
a very _______ density of only 2.8 g/cm3 but gold has one of the highest densities measured at about
19.3 g/cm3.

Crystal Structure – the way the atoms bond to form the ____________________ that make up specific
minerals is different which gives a different overall structure. Diamonds have a ______________
structure but ____________ has an orthorhombic structure.

________________________ Properties - cleavage or fracture
Cleavage – the mineral breaks along a _______________ surface or into _______________.
Fracture – when a mineral breaks with lots of ______________________ edges.

Special Properties – Some properties are particular to only a few types of minerals. Properties such as
fluorescence, chemical reactivity, optical properties, magnetism, ______________ and radioactivity.
How Minerals are Formed
Special Notes and Information:
Geodes: For geode formation to occur, a rock must have a _____________ or hollow. Water containing dissolved
________________________________ seep into the crack and ______________________ crystallization
occurs, lining the inside.
Mineral Veins: A narrow deposit of a ___________________ that is sharply _______________________ from
the surrounding _________________ is called a __________________.
Concentrated Mineral Deposits: There are processes that can bring minerals together in ____________________
areas and these are called mineral deposits. ____________________________ mineral deposits found in rocks
are called _____________ and these are often mined for human use.
Rocks
The Rock Cycle
The rock cycle is a process by which one type of rock is turned into another type of rock.