Identifying Minerals

What state of matter are all minerals?

• Solid

• Liquid

• Gas

What is a mineral's hardness?

• It describes the mineral's resistance to scratching.

• It describes the way the mineral breaks into pieces.

• It describes the way a mineral reflects light.

Select ALL the tools that could be used to test a mineral's hardness:

• your finger

• your fingernail

• a penny

• a nail

This property is NOT very useful in identifying a mineral:

• Color

• Luster

• Hardness

• Streak

A characteristic used to determine a type of mineral is

• Shape

• Structure

• Cleavage & Fracture

• Pattern

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-2

What mineral is salt?

• quartz

• sulfur

• halite

• calcite

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-1

A characteristic used to determine the type of mineral is:

• Shape

• Structure

• Cleavage & Fracture

• Pattern

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-2

Mineral or Not a Mineral: Diamond

• Mineral

• Not a Mineral

Tags

NGSS.MS-PS1-1

This property describes a mineral's resistance to scratching:

• Hardness

• Luster

• Cleavage

• Streak

This property describes the way a mineral reflects light:

• Luster

• Hardness

• Cleavage

• Streak