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Exploring Mineral Properties
Write the following in your Science notebook
Moh’s Hardness Scale
Determining a mineral’s hardness is an important part of mineral
identification. If a mineral can be scratched by another mineral then it is
not as hard as that mineral. Take a look at the minerals in the Scale of
Hardness Box. Use these minerals to scratch the unknown mineral.
Answer the following questions:
1. What is the hardness of the unknown mineral?_______________
2. If this were one of the minerals in the box, which would it
be?______________________________.
3. What is the softest mineral? __________________
4. What is the hardest? ________________________
Fluorescent Minerals
Fluorescence is a glow some minerals show when they are exposed to
ultraviolet light. This occurs because of light interacting with electrons that
are weakly held together because of impurities in the crystal structure of
the mineral. Use the black light to help you answer the following:
5. What color does Opalite (#10) fluoresce?
6. What color does calcite (#9) fluoresce?
Magnetism
Can minerals be magnetic? Try to figure out which of these three black
rocks is magnetic? Rock #_______________
Crystal Structure
Use the microscope to look at the different crystal structure. Tell the
structures of the following numbers: 9 and 12 using the chart supplied at
the lab table.
Pick one mineral out of the Washington mineral box and describe it in
your notebook filling in the following information:
Washington Mineral—Make the following chart
Color Luster Hardness Streak Fluorescence Magnetic Crystal Fracture/ Density Mineral
structure cleavage
Name