1. Title: What is a Mineral? Page #: 28 Date: 10/24/2012
Table of Contents
Title: What is a Mineral?
Page #: 28
Date: 10/24/2012

2. Objectives Students will be able to define a mineral.
Students will be able to describe how a mineral forms.
Students will be able to classify minerals according to their physical and chemical properties.

3. Words of the Day:
Mineral: Naturally occurring, inorganic solid, with a specific chemical composition and definite crystalline structure.

4. Mineral Characteristics
There are approximately 3000 different kinds of minerals in Earth’s Crust.
Characteristic 1:
A mineral is naturally occurring and inorganic.
“Naturally Occurring” – Formed by natural processes.
“Inorganic” – Not alive, never was alive, not made by a living thing.
Example: Salt – mineral
Sugar – not a mineral (its made by living things.)

5. Mineral Characteristics
Characteristic 2: A mineral has definite crystalline structure. Crystal: A solid in which atoms are arranged in a repeating pattern. Patterns are usually imperfect because they develop in restricted spaces.

6. Mineral Characteristics
A mineral has specific composition (usually.)
A few minerals are composed of a single element - Silver, Copper.
Most minerals are made of compounds.
Example: Quartz = SiO2. (Check out the sample)
The composition of a mineral depends on the temperature at which it crystallizes.

7. Classwork
Is it a mineral worksheet?