1. What are rocks made of?
minerals

2. …naturally occurring substances.
Minerals are not made by people; they are …
…naturally occurring substances.

3. What is a mineral?
Minerals, quite simply, are the building blocks for making rocks, and a rock is made up of one or more minerals

4. What is a mineral? Naturally occurring (No human input)
Non-organic (they are not made by life processes)
Characteristic chemical composition
Distinctive physical properties
Crystalline structure

5. Name four properties (or clues) that scientists use to identify minerals.
Color Luster
Streak Hardness

6. Which property means the way the light bounces off the mineral?
luster

7. Luster: How minerals reflect light

8. Glassy, dull, shiny, greasy
What words can be used to describe a mineral’s luster?
Glassy, dull, shiny, greasy

9. Many minerals have the same color.
Why is color not a good property to use to identify a mineral?
slate
limestone
Many minerals have the same color.

10. Cleavage & Fracture
Cleavage: planes of weakness along which minerals can break
Fracture: surfaces along which minerals can break

11. Cleavage & Fracture
Best identified on a fracture surface

12. Streak:
The powdered form of a mineral

13. What are three testers that can be used to determine a mineral’s hardness?
fingernail, penny, nail

14. Hardness Based on Moh’s scale of hardness

15. Vocabulary Words
Mineral-Naturally occurring inorganic solid that has a definite chemical composition and an orderly internal atomic structure.
Crystal- solid in which the atoms are arranged in orderly , repeating pattern.
Silicate- minerals that contain silicon and oxygen and usually one or more other elements
Hardness-Measure oh how easily a mineral can be scratched
Luster-describes the way a mineral reflects light from its surface; can be metallic or nonmetallic
Streak-color of a mineral when it is in powdered from.
Cleavage- minerals that break along smooth, flat surfaces
Fracture- minerals that break with uneven, rough or jagged surfaces
Specific gravity- the ratio of its weight compared with the weight of an equal volume of water.