Earth Science : Mohs Hardness Scale

The video tutorial explains how to identify minerals in rocks by examining their properties such as color, luster, hardness, and streak. It introduces the Mohs Hardness Scale, which ranks minerals based on their ability to resist scratching, with diamond being the hardest and talc the softest. The tutorial demonstrates how to determine a mineral's hardness by scratching it against objects of known hardness. Additionally, it covers the concept of streak, which is the color of the powder a mineral leaves when scraped across a streak plate. The video concludes with an example of identifying hematite using these properties.

Which property describes how light reflects off a mineral's surface?

• Luster

• Streak

• Color

• Hardness

What is the hardest mineral on the Mohs Hardness Scale?

• Quartz

• Talc

• Diamond

• Hematite

If a mineral can scratch a penny but not quartz, what is its hardness range?

• 3 to 7

• 5 to 9

• 7 to 10

• 1 to 3

What does the streak of a mineral refer to?

• The luster of the mineral

• The color of the mineral

• The color of the powder left on a streak plate

• The hardness of the mineral

Which mineral is identified by a steel gray color, rust red streak, and metallic luster?

• Quartz

• Hematite

• Diamond

• Talc