Rocks & Minerals

The five characteristics that all minerals share are:

• Definite Chemical Composition, Color, Density, Igneous, and Solid
• Definite Chemical Composition,  Crystal Structure, Inorganic, Naturally Occurring, and Solid
• Cleavage, Faces, Hardness, Metamorphic, and Streak
• Cleavage, Crystal Structure, Density, Igneous, and Solid

Means that the substance must occur in nature, it cannot be created or manufactured by people

• Inorganic
• Organic
• Naturally Occurring
• Not Living

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-3

Means that a mineral cannot come from something that was once living.

• Inorganic
• Organic
• Naturally Occurring
• Not Living

This has a definite volume and shape, its particles are tightly packed together and cannot move easily.

• Chemical Composition
• Crystal Structure
• Density
• Streak

This means the particles that make a mineral line up in a pattern that repeats over and over again.

• Chemical Composition
• Crystal Structure
• Fracture
• Solid

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-1

Definite ___________ means that a mineral always contains certain elements in definite, or exact, proportions.

• Chemical Composition
• Crystal Structure
• Crystal System
• Naturally Occurring

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-1

This is measured on  the Mohs Scale.

• Cleavage
• Density
• Hardness
• Luster

Tags

NGSS.5-PS1-3

_______ is found by rubbing the mineral against an unglazed tile called a plate.

• Cleavage
• Color
• Luster
• Streak

This is how a mineral reflects light.

• Cleavage
• Density
• Hardness
• Luster

________ is the mass per unit volume.

• Crystal Structure
• Density
• Hardness
• Solid