Download Name: ANSWERS

Ch. 3 MINERAL STUDY GUIDE
Name: ANSWERS
1. What is the hardest and softest
known mineral?
hardest: diamond (10)
softest: talc (1)
2. A mineral is:
a. naturally formed
b. inorganic
c. solid
d. with a definite crystalline structure
3. An element is:
What is a native element?
(give examples)
a.a substance that cannot be broken down by chemical into
simpler substances by chemical means
b._gold,_silver, copper, platinum,
4. A compound is:
a substance made of atoms of two or more different
elements joined by chemical bonds.
5. A crystal is:
a solid whose atoms are arranged in a definite pattern.
6. What determines a crystal’s shape
and size?
the arrangement and type of atoms in the crystal and
the amount of space it has.
7. What are the two groups of
minerals?
a. Silicate minerals
b. Nonsilicate minerals
8. How do silicate minerals differ
from nonsilicate minerals?
Silicate minerals contain silicon and oxygen and one or
more metals while a nonsilicate mineral doesn’t contain
compounds of silcon and oxygen.
9. Which group of minerals
compose 90% of Earth’s crust?
What is the most common
mineral found in rocks?
10. What is the relationship between
minerals and rocks?
a.Silicate minerals
11. What are the 8 properties we use
to identify minerals?
a. Color
b. Luster
c. Streak
d. Cleavage
e. Fracture
f. Hardness
g. Density
h. Special Properties
12. What do you call the color of a
mineral’s powder?
Streak
b.Quartz
Rocks are made of minerals, but minerals are not made of
rocks.
13. What is the formula for density?
14. A rock that contains metal or
economically useful material
is called…
15. What is cleavage?
Why would this be important to a gem
cutter?
16. Mine operators do what to fix
land that has been strip mined?
17. What is fracture?
Density = Mass/Volume (g/ml)
Ore
the splitting of a mineral along smooth, flat surfaces.
Knowing a gemstone’s cleavage will allow gem cutters to
know how a mineral can be cut so it will be stronger and
more beautiful.
Reclamation
What can we do? Recycle and conserve our resources.
The manner in which a mineral will break along curved or
irregular surfaces.
18. Imagine that you are trying to
Knowing that a mineral doesn’t leave a streak or powder
determine the identity of a
mineral. You decide to do a streak when scratched on a plate will allow you one characteristic
to help determine its identity.
test. You rub the mineral across
the streak plate, but the mineral
does not leave a streak. Has your
test failed? Explain your answer.
19. How a mineral reflects light
from its surface is known as
what? Name each type.
__Luster__
a. metallic
b. submetallic
c. nonmetallic
20. Explain Moh’s Hardness Scale:
The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is based on the ability
of one natural sample of matter to scratch another. It was
created by Friedrich Mohs in 1812 to help scientists
determine the hardness of minerals from the softest (talc-1)
to the hardest (diamond-10).
21. What are the two types of
mining?
Which type of mining is the most
disruptive to the environment?
22. What are gemstones?
a. Surface mining (open pits, surface coal mining, quarries)
b. Subsurface mining (passageways)
c. Surface mining (can destroy habitats and pollute water)
23. What is ore?
a mineral deposit large enough and pure enough to be
mined for profit.
24. What can change the color of a
mineral?
impurities or foreign atoms found in the mineral can
change the color of a mineral
, 25. Name 3 types of Special
Properties from our recent lab and the
names of minerals that have each.
Highly valued, nonmetallic minerals that have been cut and
polished for their beauty and rarity.
a. fluorescence
b. chemical reactivity
c. magnetic property
calcite & fluorite
calcite reacts w/HCl
hematite & magnetite