MINERA

LS
October 13, 2022
 What are
MINERALS?
Minerals are the building blocks
of rocks, which can be
composed of one or more
minerals in varying amounts.
How are MINERALS used

Raw, uncut diamond

How are MINERALS used

Fluorite
How are MINERALS used

Talc
I. Five
Criteria in
Minerals
A mineral must meet five criteria in order to be
called a mineral.
1. The substance
must be SOLID.
A true mineral must have
a characteristic crystal
structure.
2. The substance must
be NATURALLY FORMED.
Minerals form through natural processes,
including volcanic eruptions, precipitation
of a solid out of a liquid, and weathering
of pre-existing minerals.
3. The substance
must be
INORGANIC, not
living or made from
living things.
4. The substance must
have a FIXED CHEMICAL
COMPOSITION.
Most minerals exist as
chemical compounds whose
compositions can be
expressed using a chemical
formula.
 The chemical

5. The composition of a

substance mineral is reflected

must have a internally in a regular,

SPECIFIC repeating

ATOMIC arrangement of atoms,

ARRANGEMEN called the crystal

To realize this...
II. PROPERTIES
OF MINERALS
1. Color
.

The most obvious property of a mineral,

its color, is unfortunately also the least
diagnostic.
Example
.
 2. Streak

It is the
color of the
powdered
mineral.
3. Hardness
The ability to resist being
scratched - hardness - is
one of the most useful
properties for identifying
minerals.
4. Cleavage vs. Fracture
4. Cleavage vs. Fracture
5. Tenacity is
how well a
mineral resist
breakage.
 Tenacity is described using
these terms:
1. Brittle - mineral crushes to angular fragments.
2. Malleable - mineral can be modified in shape without breaking
and can be flattened to a thin sheet.
3. Ductile - mineral can be stretched into a wire.
4. Sectile - mineral can be cut with a knife into thin shavings.
5. Flexible - mineral bends but doesn’t regain its shape oce
released.
6. Elastic - mineral bends and regains its original shape when
released.