Earth Materials:Rocks and Minerals

Rocks have many properties, including shape, size, color,

and texture.

Geologists use rock propertiesto help identify different rocks.

Rocks are made of many ingredients.

These ingredients are called minerals.

Minerals have only ONE ingredient – the mineral itself.

Evaporation is a techniqueused to separate liquid from

solid parts of a mixture.

Crystal patterns left from evaporation can help us

identify minerals.

Minerals have different properties, too.

Properties can include size, color, shape, mass, and …

… hardness.

A scratch test is used to find the hardness of a mineral.

The Moh’s Scale of Hardness

tells us the hardness or softnessof a mineral.

Calcite is one of the most commonminerals on Earth.

Calcite is the only mineral thatbubbles when it comes in

contact with cold acid.

Evaporation can be used asan extra test to show a rock

contains calcite.

Granite is a rock made up of minerals, including feldspar,

hornblende, mica, and quartz.