1. Minerals and Rocks

2. What are Rocks Made of? All rocks are made of minerals
Minerals can be identified by the way they look and by their physical characteristics

3. The Earth The earth’s crust is made of rocks
Large rocks can be broken down into smaller rocks
Smaller rocks can be broken down into the smallest particle called a mineral.

4. Did you know… The salt you sprinkle on your food is a mineral.
The metal fork you use to eat with is made from minerals.
The ceramic plate you eat from is made from minerals.

5. What is a Mineral?
Minerals are natural, nonliving, solid crystals that make up rocks.
Scientists have identified over 3,000 minerals
Most of the rocks from the earth’s crust are made from a very small number of minerals.

6. Combinations of Minerals
Most rocks are made from a different combinations of minerals.
All over the world, each mineral has the same chemical make up no matter where it’s found.
A grain of mineral quartz from a beach in Australia has the same chemicals as a piece of quartz found in the mountains of Australia.

7. Identifying Minerals
Scientists identify minerals based on their physical characteristics.
Color
Luster
Hardness
Streak
Cleavage

8. Color:
Not mineral specific

9. Luster:
How minerals reflect light
Metallic
Non-metallic

10. Hardness
Moh’s Scale
Hardness measures how easily it can be scratched

11. Streak:
The color of the powder that a mineral leaves behind.

12. Cleavage
Cleavage: areas of weakness along which minerals can break

13. 3 Types of Rocks
Sedimentary Rock
Igneous Rock
Metamorphic Rock

14. Lesson 2: How are Sedimentary Rocks Formed
Water, ice, wind and gravity sweep bits of rock, soil, shells, sand and dead plant and animals matter from one place to another.
This is called erosion
The eroded material that settles on land or on the bottoms of lakes, rivers and oceans is called sediment

15. More and More Sediment…
Over time… more and more layers of sand, soil, shells and rock lay on top of each other. New layers lay on top of old layers.
The new layers press on top of the old layers.
The weight of these layers pushes and sticks the rocks together. They harden and form Sedimentary Rocks.

16. Igneous Rock Comes from boiling hot lava (Molten)
Your kitchen counter is made of Igneous Rock

17. Metamorphic Rock Morph = to change
Metamorphic rock is rock that goes through changes from heat and pressure in the earth’s surface.
Rocks that go through the Rock Cycle

18. Rock Cycle The recycling of old rock into new
Heat, pressure, chemical reactions, weathering and erosion are some of the forces that drive the rock cycle
All 3 rock types can change from one type into another
Some rocks never go through the rock cycle
Too deep in the earth’s surface
Some rocks melt from the heat at the center of the earth

19. How Rocks Changed into Soil
Over time, loose rocks on Earth’s surface take a beating. Water that drips into cracks in rock, freezes and thaws again and again. This makes the cracks larger and weakens the rock. Over time, this causes the rock to break apart. This is called weathering.
Even the tallest mountains wear down over millions of years due to weathering.

20. How do Rocks Tell a Story
Let’s read page 244 of the textbook to find out!

21. A scientist finds a fossil of a shell from a sea creature on a mountain range…
What can you guess about the land around the fossil?