Thursday January 19, 2012 (Physical Properties of Minerals)
ThursdayJanuary 19, 2012
(Physical Properties of
Minerals)
The Launch PadThursday, 1/19/12
Identify the four objec
ts.
Assignment Currently Open
Summative or Formative
Date Issued
Date Due
Date Into
Grade Speed
Last Day
Launch Pads 1/4 - 1/6 F1 1/6 1/6
Project: Fossils S1 1/9 1/13
Lab – Fossils F4 1/12 1/12
Quiz 15 S2 1/13 1/13
Announcements
I will not be available after school today.
The Project on Fossils is way overdue.
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Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks Physical properties
of minerals Streak
When you rub a mineral on a flat surface, the color of the powder left behind on the
streak plate is the mineral's streak.
The streak and color of some minerals are the same. For others, the streak may be
quite different from the color.
Although the color of a mineral may not be very helpful in identification, the streak, which is the color of the
powered mineral, can be very useful.
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks
Physical properties of minerals
HardnessMineral hardness is based on
the ability of one natural sample of matter to scratch
another.Diamond is the hardest
known naturally occurring substance, whereas talc is the
least hard.
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks
Physical properties of minerals
HardnessThe hardness of a material is
measured against the Mohs scale by finding the hardest material that
the given material can scratch, and/or the softest material that can scratch the given material.
For example, if some material is scratched by apatite but not by
fluorite, its hardness on the Mohs scale would fall between 4 and 5.
Figure 2.13
Mohs Scale of Hardness
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks
Physical properties of minerals
CleavageIn mineral terms, cleavage describes how a crystal breaks when subject to
stress on a particular plane.If part of a crystal breaks due to stress and the broken piece retains a smooth plane or crystal shape, the mineral has
cleavage.A mineral that never produces any
crystallized fragments when broken off due to stress has no cleavage.
Cleavage
Cleavage
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks Physical properties
of minerals Habit
Mineral habit is the shape of how a mineral tends to form.
Types of mineral habits include columnar, blocky,
acicular (needle-like), granular, lamellar or foliated
(sheets easily split apart), botryoidal (like a bunch of
grapes), fibrous, radiating, or dendritic (like a fern).
The mineral quartz often exhibits good crystal shape
Pyrite (fool’s gold) has two common crystal forms
Figure 2.11
Figure 2.12Abladed habit
Figure 2.12Bprismatic habit
Figure 2.12Cbanded habit
Figure 2.12Dbotryoidal habit
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks Physical properties
of minerals Luster
The luster of a mineral is the way its surface reflects light. In simplest
terms, minerals have a metallic or non-metallic luster. A metallic luster is a shiny, opaque appearance similar to
a bright chrome bumper on an automobile. Other shiny, but
somewhat translucent or transparent lusters (glassy, adamantine), along
with dull, earthy, waxy, and resinous lusters, are grouped as non-metallic.
The freshly broken sample of galena (right) displays a metallic luster, while the sample on
the left is tarnished and has a submetallic luster.
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks
Physical properties of minerals
ColorThe color of a mineral is one of its most
obvious attributes, and is one of the properties that is always given in any
description. Color results from a mineral’s chemical composition,
impurities that may be present, and flaws or damage in the internal
structure. Color in minerals is caused by the absorption, or lack of absorption, of
various wavelengths of light.
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks Physical properties of
minerals Fracture
Fracture is a description of the way a mineral tends to break. It is different
from cleavage and parting, which are generally clean flat breaks along specific directions.
Different minerals will break in different ways and leave a surface that can be described in a recognizable way. Is the broken area smooth?
Irregular? Jagged? Splintery? These are some of the ways of describing fracture. Although many
minerals break in similar ways, some have a unique fracture and this can be diagnostic.
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks Physical properties
of minerals Fracture
The most common fracture type is conchoidal. This is a smoothly curved fracture that is familiar to
people who have examined broken glass. Sometimes described as
a clam-shell fracture. Quartz has this fracture type and almost all
specimens that have been broken, demonstrate this fracture type very
well.
Conchoidal Fracture
Figure 2.16
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks Physical properties
of minerals Fracture
Another common type is subconchoidal. Similar to conchoidal, just not as curved, but still smooth. Andalusite can show this
type.
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks Physical properties
of minerals Fracture
Uneven is a type that is basically self
explanatory. It is a common type that is found in anhydrite.
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks Physical properties
of minerals Fracture
Jagged fractures have sharp points or edges that
catch on a finger that's rubbed across the surface.
Usually this indicates a metal such as copper , a
metal alloy or some sulfides or oxides.
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks Physical properties
of minerals Fracture
Splintery is a fracture type that occurs in fibrous or finely acicular minerals and in minerals that have
a relatively stronger structure in one direction than the other two. Chrysotile serpentine is a typical mineral with splintery fracture, and kyanite is an example of a
non-fibrous mineral that has this fracture.
Minerals - The Building Blocks of Rocks Physical properties
of minerals Fracture
Earthy is a fracture that produces a texture similar to broken children's clay.
It is found in minerals that are generally massive and loosely consolidated such
as limonite.