Earth Science

1. To be a mineral, a substance must satisfy five criteria. List these criteria below.

a.

b.

c.

d.

e.

2. Circle the substances below that are minerals.

gold nugget vitamin pill quartz diamond brick

granite amber calcite ice oil ivory

3. For each substance in question 2 that you did not circle, explain specifically why it is not a mineral.

4. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate mineral property. Each property is used once. Properties: luster, hardness, cleavage, fracture, tenacity, color, streak.

a. Mica has a low _______________ because is flexible and not very resistant to bending.

b. The resistance of a mineral to scratching is known as the mineral’s _______________.

c. The least reliable property when trying to identify a mineral is _______________.

d. _______________ is the way a mineral reflects light and can be either metallic or non-metallic.

e. A mineral that breaks in a random patter is said to exhibit _______________.

f. Though a crystal of amethyst is purple, it appears white in powdered from. Thus we say that amethyst has a white _______________.

g. A mineral exhibits _______________ when it breaks along a finite number of smooth planes determined by zones of weakness in the crystal structure.

5. For each of the minerals below, indicate whether they are ferromagnesian silicates, non-ferrogmagnesian silicates, carbonates, or other.

a. Fluorite CaF2

b. Siderite FeCO3

c. Kyanite Al2SiO5

d. Garnet (Pyrope variety) Mg3Al2(SiO4)3

e. Graphite C