MINERALS

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MINERALS
What is a mineral?
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• A mineral is a naturally occurring, inorganic
  solid that has a crystal structure and a definite
  chemical composition

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What does Natural Occurring Mean?
This is naturally occurring GOLD in a mine in
South Carolina.
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• Found in the Earth
• Not made by people

copper mine
NOT brick, glass, steel or cement!
copper
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What does inorganic mean?

• LIFE

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Did not come from materials that were once part
of a living thing.

• NOT COAL!

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All minerals are a solid.

• They have volume!
• They have a shape!

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All minerals have a crystaline structure.

• Particles line up in a pattern and repeat the
  pattern over and over again. The forms a solid
  called a crystal.

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Identifying Minerals

• HARDNESS

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COLOR

• Emeralds are always green!

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LUSTER
Galena is always shiny.
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DENSITY

• Mercury is a very dense mineral.

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CRYSTAL SYSTEMS

• Quartz

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CLEAVAGE

• Breaks into smooth angles.

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SPECIAL PROPERTIES

• Sulfur smells like rotten eggs!

Some glow in the dark under fluorescent light!
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Name some minerals!

• Quartz
• Nickel
• Gold
• Silver
• Iron
• Tin
• Sulfur