Download Minerals • Mineral is a substance that is: • Solid • Formed in Nature

Minerals
 Mineral is a substance that is:
 Solid
 Formed in Nature
 Has a Crystalline Structure
 Minerals are Identified by:
 Luster – The way a mineral reflects light (metallic, non-metallic)
 Hardness- The resistance to being scratched
 Texture- how it feels. Determined by the grains in the mineral
 Cleavage/Fracture- How the Mineral breaks
 Cleavage – Breaks on smooth flat surfaces
 Fracture – Breaks unevenly
 Color – The color the mineral appears
 Streak – The color of the mineral when scratched on a hard surface
 Moh’s Hardness Scale is used to determine a mineral’s hardness rating
 If a mineral is Softer than an object it will be scratched
 If a mineral is Harder than an object it will NOT be scratched
Layers of the Earth
 There are 4 Layers of the Earth
o Crust- Outer most layer, coolest and thinnest layer, made of solid
rock, broken into pieces; continental crust and oceanic crust
o Mantle- thickest layer, semi-solid magma (liquid rock), contains
convection currents
o Outer Core- only liquid layer, 2nd hottest, and 2nd thinnest layer,
made of metals, controls the magnetic field of the earth
o Inner Core- solid, made of metals (nickel and iron), hottest layer
Tectonic Plates
 Earth’s crust is broken into pieces called Tectonic Plates
 There are 2 types of Tectonic Plates
o Continental – thicker and less dense
o Oceanic – thinner and More dense
 These plates are constantly moving because of convection currents
 Convection currents form in the mantle where hot dense magma rises,
spreads out, cools down and then sinks
 These currents causes the plates to collide, separate or slide past each
other
 There are 3 types of plate boundaries
o Convergent – 2 plates collide
o Divergent – 2 plates separate
o Transform- 2 plates slide past each other
 Each type of plate boundary has very specific geologic features or
landforms that occur
o Convergent :
 Tall mountains (continental/continental)
 Deep Ocean Trenches (Oceanic/Oceanic)
 Volcanic Mountains (Continental/Oceanic)
*** Subduction zones forms when one plate is pulled under the
other (always the oceanic)***
o Divergent:
 Seafloor Spreading and Mid Ocean Ridges (Oceanic)
 Rift Zones/Rift Valleys (Continental)
o Transform:
 Faults and Earthquakes
Scientific Method
 Scientific Method is used to guide an investigation. By following its
steps/guidelines we can make sure our results and conclusion are valid and
reliable.
 You hypothesis is an essential piece
 When you develop a hypothesis it helps by:
o Guiding your investigation
o Identify your variables correctly
 Identifying and controlling your variables allows your investigation to be
reliable
 There are 3 types of Variables:
o Independent – the variable you will CHANGE
o Dependent – the variable you will MEASURE
o Controlled – the variable you will HOLD CONSTANT
 Hypothesis should be written in correct format:
o If ______________________________, then ______________________.
(Independent Variable)
(Dependent Variable)
Example: If a bowler wears bowling shoes then the bowling score will
increase.
 After you conduct your investigation and have gathered data you will need
to analyze it
 Create graphs to represent the data
o Easier to understand what the data is telling you
 Graphs are used to tell certain stories
o Pie – percentages
o Line – changes over time
o Bar – compare sets of data
o Histogram – show ranges of large sets of data
Rock Cycle
 The earth’s surface is constantly changing because of the Rock Cycle
 Mountains, valleys, rivers and many other features are created or
destroyed due to:
o Weathering- breaking down rocks into sediment
o Erosion – Moving the sediment from one place to another
o Deposition – the sediment stops moving
 There are 3 types of rocks on earth
o Igneous
o Sedimentary
o Metamorphic
 Each type of rock is formed by specific processes
o Igneous – forms when magma cools (crystallization)
o Metamorphic – heat and pressure changes the rock into something
different (metamorphism)
o Sedimentary – Squeezing (compaction) and Gluing (Cementation) of
sediment together
 These rocks can change from one to the other through the rock cycle.
Fossils
 We can look at fossils found in the ground and interpret what the
environment used to be like
o For example: If in the deepest layer of a core sample we found a fish
fossil and then in a more recent layer we found a fern sample we
could infer that in the past the area was once covered in water and
that fish lived in it. More recently it was more of a forest where ferns
grew.
Chemistry
 All the elements found on earth are organized on the Periodic Table of
Elements
 The Periodic Table is organized into:
o Periods – rows that run horizontally
o Groups or Families – columns that run vertically
 Each element is represented by an element box
 The box tells us:
o Name
o Symbol- abbreviation of the Name
o Atomic Number – the number of Protons in the Nucleus
o Atomic Mass – the mass of the one single atom of the element
 The periodic table is also organized into 3 categories
o Metals – found to the right of the zig-zag line
o Non-Metals – found to the left of the zig-zag line
o Metalloids – found along the zig-zag line
 Elements can be combined to form compounds and mixtures
o Elements are pure- only one type of atom (example: C or Ca)
o Compounds – 2 or more elements CHEMICALLY combined (example: NaCl)
o Mixtures – Elements and Compounds NOT chemically combined (example: salad
or air)
 When looking at the chemical equation of a substance you can tell the
difference between and element and compound by counting the number of
CAPITAL letters in the equation)
o If there is only 1 capital letter than it’s an element
o If there is more than 2 capital letter than it’s a compound.
 Chemical reactions combine elements together or break them apart
 You know a chemical reaction has occurred by looking for evidence.
o Gas forming: see bubbles form
o Precipitate forms
o Color change
o Temperature change