1. Rocks and Minerals

2. Rocks and Minerals Rocks: naturally occurring combination of minerals
Minerals: natural, solid substance that has definite chemical composition and physical structure. All rocks contain minerals.
The building block of rocks

3. Mineral Property
Minerals can be identified by looking at its properties or physical and chemical characteristics
7 ways + 2 special ways

4. 7 ways to identify minerals/rocks
Color
Streak
Luster
Cleavage
Fracture
Density
Hardness

5. 2 Special ways to Identify minerals/rocks
Acid base test
UV light test

6. Color
The color of a mineral sample. Different samples of the same mineral may have more than one color

8. Streak The color of the powder of the mineral.
Minerals are scraped across a streak plate,
Minerals may look similar, but have a different streak

10. Luster The way light reflects from the mineral’s surface.
May be metallic or nonmetallic (glassy is nonmetallic)
May vary from sample to sample

11. Metallic Luster Non metallic luster

12. Minerals break
The way a mineral breaks is often a better clue as to its identity
Bonds between atoms may be equal in all directions or they may be stronger within layers

13. Cleavage The tendency of a mineral to break along flat surfaces
Minerals will have flat surfaces, may be in 2 or more directions

14. Halite, breaks in 90 degree angles

15. Fracture
The tendency of a mineral to break into irregular, jagged pieces.
Atomic bonds are fairly equal in all directions

16. Fracture

17. Density Amount of mass in a given volume of a mineral
2 minerals may appear the same but one may be much lighter

18. Hardness A mineral’s resistance to being scratched.
Determined by the strength between atoms.

19. Mohs Scale Describes a mineral’s hardness. Talc = 1– baby powder
Diamond is the hardest mineral = 10 the only thing that can scratch a diamond is another diamond

20. Mohls Scale

21. Acid test: React with acid = carbonate minerals (bubbles)
Special Properties
Acid test: React with acid = carbonate minerals (bubbles)
Fluorescence = minerals glow when exposed to UV light

22. Standard Light UV light

23. Brain Pop