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1. Minerals

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Minerals are solid substances formed in nature

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Vocabulary

minerals

A solid substance formed in natured

Minerals are made of materials that were never alive

A mineral always has the same chemical make-up

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The atoms of a mineral are arranged in regular patterns

and form shapes called crystals

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Vocabulary:

crystals

A solid in which the atoms are arranged in regular patterns

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Most minerals are formed by magma

Vocabulary

Magma

The hot liquid rock inside Earth

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When magma cools slowly, minerals with large crystals

are formed

When magma cools quickly minerals with small crystals

form

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Dolerite Gabbro

Some minerals, like sulfur, are made up of one kind of atom

There are about 3,000 different minerals on Earth

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Others, like quartz, are made of more than one

kind of atom

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Minerals have properties that can be used to identify them

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One of these properties is streak

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Vocabulary

streak

The color of a mineral when it is in powdered form

Sulfur is always yellow

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Other minerals, like quartz, may be found in many colors

Luster, cleavage, and hardness are other properties used to

identify minerals

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Vocabulary:

luster

Describes how shiny a mineral is when light

hits it

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Some minerals, like sulfur, are dull

Some minerals, like gold, are very shiny

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Vocabulary:

cleavage

The way a mineral breaks

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Mica breaks in one direction and forms sheets

Sulfur breaks into many uneven pieces

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Vocabulary:

hardness

The ability of a mineral to be scratched

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Some minerals are so soft that they can be scratched by a

fingernail

Diamond, the hardest mineral, can scratch any other mineral

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In 1824, Friedrich Mohs developed a list of common minerals to compare their

hardness called the Mohs Scale

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