Name:______________________
Geology 101 Lab Worksheet: Minerals
Refer to the Minerals Lab (http://commons.wvc.edu/rdawes/G101OCL/Labs/MineralsLab.html), the
Minerals Basics Page and Table (http://commons.wvc.edu/rdawes/G101OCL/Basics/minerals.html and
http://commons.wvc.edu/rdawes/G101OCL/Basics/BscsTables/minerals.html) for the information you
need to perform this lab and complete this worksheet. Read this entire worksheet before proceeding.
In this lab, you will examine 12 different minerals, look at them under a hand lens, look at them under a
low-power microscope, determine their physical properties, and take digital photographs of them to
include in your lab report. I will show you which twelve minerals you are assigned.
Materials Needed
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This worksheet
Assigned set of minerals
Accessories to test and determine the physical properties of minerals, including:
o hand lens (with two aligned lenses, also called a loupe)
o low-power microscope
o glass scratch plate
o streak plate
o piece of stainless steel (such as a knife blade)
o dilute (5%) hydrochloric acid (HCl) in an eyedropper-type bottle
o small magnet
Digital camera to take close-up, in-focus photographs of the minerals
Computer to upload your pictures and combine them into a single digital document
There are three parts to this lab:
Part 1: Practice determining the physical properties of minerals
Part 2: Compile a complete listing, in a table, of the physical properties of all your assigned minerals, the
names of the minerals, and which class each mineral is a member of.
Part 3: Produce a digital document that contains photos you took of your assigned minerals, labeled with
numbers in the same sequence as the minerals are listed in your summary table on page 4.
Due by the time the next lab begins next week:
1. This work sheet, completed.
2. A digital document that contains the photographs you took of the assigned minerals, in the same
sequence as the minerals are listed in your completed table in Part 2.
The best way, the preferred way, to submit your mineral pictures is printed on 8.5x11" pages in color ,
stapled to the back of the rest of your lab.
Alternatively, you can upload the pictures (or even the entire lab including the written part) into the Lab 3
assessment tool in the online classroom.
To repeat: Pictures must be compiled into a document, either printed on regular notebook-size pages or,
if submitted digitally, in a single PDF, Word, or PowerPoint document.
Lab Worksheet – Minerals
Introduction to Physical Geology created by Ralph L. Dawes, Ph.D. and Cheryl D. Dawes, including
unattributed figures. Unless otherwise specified, this work by Washington State Colleges is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
page 1
Part 1.
In the numbered boxes on pages 2 and 3 of this worksheet, keep a record of the physical properties you
determine for each mineral, one by one. For example, in the first box on the next page, write the physical
properties of the first mineral that you choose to work with. Make a note about each physical property as
you check for it, including any special properties. Refer to the Physical Properties section of the Minerals
Basics page (http://commons.wvc.edu/rdawes/G101OCL/Basics/minerals.html#physical). Also write any
questions you have about the mineral. After you have completed your notes for two or three minerals,
have me take a look at your work before proceeding through the rest.
Record your lab notes about the physical properties of your 12 minerals in the following boxes. List each
property as you determine it for each mineral, and note any special property or questions you have.
Mineral 1
Mineral 2
Mineral 3
Mineral 4
Mineral 5
Mineral 6
Lab Worksheet – Minerals
Introduction to Physical Geology created by Ralph L. Dawes, Ph.D. and Cheryl D. Dawes, including
unattributed figures. Unless otherwise specified, this work by Washington State Colleges is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
page 2
Before you move on, you may want to take your photographs of the minerals you’ve done so far. Be sure
you have a way of telling which mineral photograph goes with which number in your sequence of minerals
1-12, such including the number on a piece of paper in the photograph. Remember that you are
responsible for taking your own photos and remember to make them close-up and in-focus. The photos in
the digital document you turn in for this lab must be only photos that you took yourself.
Mineral 7
Mineral 8
Mineral 9
Mineral 10
Mineral 11
Mineral 12
Lab Worksheet – Minerals
Introduction to Physical Geology created by Ralph L. Dawes, Ph.D. and Cheryl D. Dawes, including
unattributed figures. Unless otherwise specified, this work by Washington State Colleges is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
page 3
Part 2. Now that you have worked through your 12 minerals, determined their physical properties, and made any other notes you wish to take,
compile your information about each mineral into the following table. See page 5 for notes that will help you name and classify the minerals.
color
luster
streak
hardness
(M)
cleavage (#
and 90º or
not 90º)
other properties
mineral name
mineral formula and
mineral class
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Lab Worksheet – Minerals
Introduction to Physical Geology created by Ralph L. Dawes, Ph.D. and Cheryl D. Dawes, including unattributed figures. Unless otherwise specified, this work by
Washington State Colleges is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
page 4
Notes to help fill out your mineral table:
1. Hardness should be listed as a number or range of numbers from the Mohs (M) hardness scale.
Refer to the Hardness section on the Minerals Basics page
(http://commons.wvc.edu/rdawes/G101OCL/Basics/minerals.html#hardness) for the Mohs
hardness scale.
2. A mineral may have none, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6 cleavages. Refer to the Cleavage section on the
Minerals Basics page
(http://commons.wvc.edu/rdawes/G101OCL/Basics/minerals.html#cleavage) for a discussion of
cleavage.
a. Only one common mineral in most lab collections has 4 cleavages and only one common
mineral has 6 cleavages.
b. If a mineral has more than one cleavage, determine if the angle between them is 90º or not.
3. Other properties you should include, if you see them in your minerals: the conchoidal fracture of
quartz; striations on cleavage surfaces of plagioclase; and the reaction of calcite to HCl.
4. Refer to the Mineral Classification Table
(http://commons.wvc.edu/rdawes/G101OCL/Basics/BscsTables/minerals.html) to name the
minerals. Make the names as specific as you can. For example, rather than naming a mineral
plagioclase, see if you can specify whether it is Na-plagioclase or Ca-plagioclase.
5. Once you have named the mineral, you can classify it according to its chemical properties. The
main mineral classes are silicate, sulfide, carbonate, oxide, halide, sulfate, phosphate, and native
element. Refer to(http://commons.wvc.edu/rdawes/G101OCL/Basics/minerals.html#classes)
6. Once you have classified the mineral, find the mineral formula online or in a reference book. The
mineral formula expresses the ratios of the different chemical elements that compose the mineral.
For example, SiO2 is the formula of quartz and CaCO3 is the formula of calcite.
7. If the mineral is of the silicate mineral class, specify which type of silicate it is. The silicate types
are based on the bonding arrangements of the silicate tetrahedra; in other words, each type of
silicate represents a different crystal lattice. Knowing the crystal lattice of a silicate mineral helps
you understand the properties of the mineral starting with its crystal shape and cleavage.
a. in nesosilicates the tetrahedra are separate from each other and bonded completely to
non-silicate atoms
b. in sorosilicates the silicate tetrahedra are bonded in pairs
c. in cyclosilicates the tetrahedra are joined into rings
d. in phyllosilicates the tetrahedra are bonded into sheets
e. in single-chain inosilicates the tetrahedra form single chains
f. in double-chain inosilicates the tetrahedra form double chains
g. in tectosilicates all corners of the silicate tetrahedra are bonded to corners of other
tetrahedra, forming a complete framework of silicate tetrahedra in all directions.
Part 3. Once you have examined your twelve minerals, determined their physical properties, named
and classified them and completed this worksheet, compile your mineral photographs into a single digital
document to submit as part of your minerals lab. The minerals photographs can be put into a sequence of
slides, for example they can be inserted into a PowerPoint slide show, or they can be inserted into a
word-processing document such as Word.
Your mineral photographs must be labeled with numbers in the same sequence as the minerals in the
summary table on page 4.
Reminder: Be sure to follow the guidelines at the bottom page 1 for the file name of your digital
document. I will give you instructions for how to submit the digital document to me.
All the parts of this lab are due by the time the next lab is scheduled to begin next week.
Lab Worksheet – Minerals
Introduction to Physical Geology created by Ralph L. Dawes, Ph.D. and Cheryl D. Dawes, including
unattributed figures. Unless otherwise specified, this work by Washington State Colleges is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.
page 5