What is a mineral?

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What is a mineral?

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A naturally occurring, inorganic solid with a specific chemical composition and a definite crystalline structure.

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What characteristic of a mineral is least reliable for identification?

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Color.

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What is hardness in terms of minerals?

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A measure of how easily a mineral can be scratched, determined by the arrangement of a mineral’s atoms.

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What is luster in minerals?

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The way a mineral reflects light, which can be described as metallic or non-metallic.

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What is cleavage in mineralogy?

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The tendency of a mineral to break along flat, even surfaces.

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What is fracture in minerals?

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The way a mineral breaks when it does not cleave; it can be uneven or conchoidal.

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What is streak in mineral identification?

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The color of the powder left when a mineral is scraped across a hard surface.

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What is the Mohs scale?

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A scale that ranks minerals based on their hardness from 1 (talc) to 10 (diamond).

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What is a crystalline structure?

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The orderly, repeating arrangement of atoms in a mineral.

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What is the difference between a mineral and a rock?

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A mineral is a single substance with a specific composition, while a rock is a mixture of minerals.