Download Minerals Notes - Red Hook Central Schools

Minerals Notes
A MINERAL has the following 5 characteristics:
1. ____________________________ Explain: __________________________________
2. ____________________________
___________________________________
3. ____________________________
___________________________________
4. ____________________________
___________________________________
5. ____________________________
___________________________________
The most common minerals in the Earth’s crust are (Look in ESRT!)
1. ______________________ 2.________________________3._________________
Describe and give an example of the following physical properties of minerals:
PROPERTY
1. Color:
2. Streak:
3. Luster:
4. Hardness:
5. Density:
6. Cleavage
7. Fracture:
8. Crystal Structure:
EXAMPLE
All of a mineral’s physical and chemical properties are caused by
___________________________________________________________________________
Some minerals have special properties such as:
1.
2.
3.
The physical properties can be used to identify minerals. Which physical property is the least
reliable and why?
____________________________________________________________________________
Most common minerals belong to the SILICATE family, and are made up various arrangements of the
silicon-oxygen tetrahedron, a 4-sided unit of one silicon atom surrounded by 4 oxygen atoms. Its looks
like this:
Three example of silicate minerals are 1.__________________ 2. _________________ 3. ____________
Two examples of non-silicate minerals are 1.____________________ 2._______________________
Diamond and Graphite are minerals with the same chemical composition ___________ .
Diamond is very hard and colorless with a non-metallic luster. Graphite is very soft and grey with a
metallic luster. Why do these two minerals have such different physical properties?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
An example of something that is NOT a mineral is _______________________________________
because _______________________________________________.
Minerals have many important uses in our lives, for example _________________ is used for