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Minerals

Terms to learn:

mineral           element           silica-oxygen tetrahedron
streak             luster              hardness (Moh's hardness scale)
cleavage         fracture

Topic outline:

Basic Chemistry
1. chemical bonds
  1. ionic
  2. covalent
Earth’s crust
1. silicate minerals
  1. silica-oxygen tetrahedron
  2. silicate structures
Important minerals
1. rock-forming
2. non-silicates
Physical properties of minerals
Rock cycle

Fun places to visit:

Mineral gallery: http://mineral.galleries.com/default.htm

Fluorescent minerals: http://simplethinking.com/franklinminerals/franklin.stm

Mineral collecting information: http://geology.er.usgs.gov/eastern/rocks.html

Smithsonian gem and mineral collection: http://www.min.uni-bremen.de/sgmcol/

When you are finished with this topic, you should be able to answer these questions:

1. What is the difference between a rock and a mineral?

2. What is the primary building block of all silicate minerals?

3. Why might it be difficult to identify a mineral by its color?

4. Would you consider ice to be a mineral?

5. Be familiar with the general properties of minerals.

6. What mineral group makes up the rock-forming minerals?

Housing

Minerals