1. Unit 3 Lesson 1
Minerals

2. Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
Animal, Vegetable, or Mineral?
What do minerals have in common?
Not all minerals are sparkling gems, but they all have certain characteristics in common.
A mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic solid with a definite crystalline structure and chemical composition. 2

3. What do minerals have in common?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
What do minerals have in common?
All minerals contain one or more elements, which are pure substances that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by chemical means.
Each element is made up of one kind of atom, the building block of matter.
Stable particles that are made up of strongly bonded atoms are called molecules. 3

4. What do minerals have in common?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
What do minerals have in common?
A substance made up of molecules of two or more elements is called a compound.
The chemical composition of a mineral is determined by the element or compound that makes up the mineral.
A mineral composed of only one element is called a native element. 4

5. What do minerals have in common?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
What do minerals have in common?
In the mineral quartz, each silicon atom forms a bond with up to four oxygen atoms. 5

6. What do minerals have in common?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
What do minerals have in common?
Matter is anything that has mass and volume.
Volume refers to the amount of space something takes up.
All minerals are solid, meaning each has a definite volume and shape. 6

7. What do minerals have in common?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
What do minerals have in common?
All minerals are inorganic, which means they are not produced by living things or from the remains of living things.
All minerals are naturally occurring. 7

8. What do minerals have in common?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
What do minerals have in common?
All minerals form crystals, which are solid geometric forms produced by a repeating pattern of atoms or molecules. 8

9. Crystal Clear! How are minerals formed?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
Crystal Clear!
How are minerals formed?
The type of mineral that forms depends on the elements present in the area and the temperature and pressure.
Many minerals form from magma, which is molten rock inside Earth. As magma cools, the atoms join together to form different minerals.
Minerals also form from lava, which is molten rock that has reached Earth’s surface. 9

10. How are minerals formed?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
How are minerals formed?
Many minerals form by metamorphism.
High temperature and pressure within Earth cause new minerals to form as bonds between atoms break and reform with different atoms. 10

11. How are minerals formed?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
How are minerals formed?
Minerals also form from solutions.
Water usually has substances dissolved in it. As it evaporates, these substances form into solids and come out of solution, or precipitate.
As hot water cools, dissolved substances may precipitate out of solution. 11

12. Sort It Out How are minerals classified?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
Sort It Out
How are minerals classified?
Minerals are usually classified based on their chemical composition as silicate or nonsilicate minerals.
Most common minerals are silicate minerals, containing a combination of silicon and oxygen.
Most silicate minerals are formed from silicate tetrahedrons, each made of one silicon atom bonded to four oxygen atoms. 12

14. How are minerals classified?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
How are minerals classified?
Nonsilicate minerals are minerals that do not contain the silicate tetrahedron building block.
Groups of nonsilicate minerals include native elements, halides, sulfates, carbonates, oxides, and sulfides. 14

15. Name That Mineral! What properties can be used to identify minerals?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
Name That Mineral!
What properties can be used to identify minerals?
Minerals can be identified by their physical and/or chemical properties.
Physical properties are properties that can be observed without changing the identity of the substance.
Examples: Color, density, mass, volume, streak
Chemical properties are properties that can only be observed by changing the identity of the substance.
Examples: Reactivity & flammability 15

16. Name That Mineral! What properties can be used to identify minerals?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
Name That Mineral!
What properties can be used to identify minerals?
Color is helpful, but not the best way to identify a mineral.
The color of the powdered form of a mineral is its streak, found by rubbing it against a white tile streak plate.
The way a surface reflects light is called luster. Two major types of luster are metallic and nonmetallic. 16

17. Streak

18. Minerals with metallic luster have the look of polished metal
Minerals with metallic luster have the look of polished metal. Some surfaces will also work as a reflective surface.
Minerals with Dull (or earthy) luster exhibit little to no luster due to coarse granulations which scatter light in all directions. There is a distinction between dull and earthy minerals, with the earthy being coarser, and having even less luster.
Minerals with Greasy luster resemble fat or grease. A greasy luster often occurs in minerals containing a great abundance of microscopic inclusions. Many minerals with a greasy luster also feel greasy to the touch.

19. Minerals with Pearly luster consist of thin transparent co-planar sheets. Light reflecting from these layers give them a luster reminiscent of pearls. Such minerals possess perfect cleavage.
Minerals with Resinous luster have the appearance of resin or (smooth surfaced) plastic. A principal example is amber, which is a form of fossilized resin.
Minerals with Silky luster have a parallel arrangement of extremely fine fibers, giving them a luster reminiscent of silk. Examples include asbestos, ulexite and the satin spar variety of gypsum.

20. Minerals with Submetallic luster have similar luster to metal, but are duller and less reflective. A submetallic luster often occurs in near-opaque minerals that have refractive tendencies.
Minerals with Vitreous luster look similar to glass. (The term is derived from the Latin for glass, vitrum.) This type of luster is one of the most commonly seen, and occurs in transparent or translucent minerals.
Minerals with Waxy luster have a luster resembling wax.

21. What properties can be used to identify minerals?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
What properties can be used to identify minerals?
The tendency of a mineral to split along specific planes of weakness to form smooth, flat surfaces is called cleavage.
A mineral with cleavage breaks along flat surfaces that generally run parallel to planes of weakness in the crystal structure.
Minerals that don’t have cleavage will fracture, or break unevenly, along curved or jagged surfaces. 21

23. What properties can be used to identify minerals?
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
What properties can be used to identify minerals?
Density, which is the amount of matter in a given amount of space, can be used to tell many similar-looking minerals apart.
A mineral’s resistance to being scratched is called its hardness. Mineral hardness is compared using the Mohs hardness scale.
A few minerals exhibit special properties such as magnetism. 23

25. Made from Minerals Many useful substances come from minerals.
Unit 3 Lesson 1 Minerals
Made from Minerals
Many useful substances come from minerals.
The metal titanium comes from several minerals, including rutile.
Titanium is very valuable because it resists corrosion and is as strong as steel, but is much lighter than steel.
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