Please make sure

you have your

Mineral
Vocabulary Sheet

Minerals
To Determine Whether Something is a Mineral,
We Ask 4 Questions:
Is it a SOLID with a CRYSTAL SHAPE?
Does it FORM IN NATURE?
Is it INORGANIC (made of NONLIVING THINGS)?
Does it have a set CHEMICAL COMPOSITION?

If the answer to ALL 4 QUESTIONS is YES
Its a mineral
NO
NO
NO
NO
N
o
t

a

M
i
n
e
r
a
l

How Many Minerals ARE THERE?
Over 4,000 minerals occur naturally on earth
LESS THAN 20 MINERALS ARE COMMON
Common minerals are called Rock Forming
Minerals because they form the rocks that
make up Earths crust
Common Rock Forming Minerals: Quartz,
Calcite, Mica, Halite, Gypsum
How Do Minerals Form?
Two Most Common Ways:
From cooling magma or lava
From the evaporation of mineral-rich water

Minerals can also form:
During Metamorphism
When hot, mineral-rich solutions cool off (metallic
minerals forming in veins).
How are Minerals
Classified?

Into 2 Groups based on their Chemical
Composition:
Silicates (contain Si AND O)
Non-Silicates (can contain Si OR O, but not both)
By looking at the chemical formula of a mineral,
you can tell if its a Silicate or Non-Silicate
Mineral!
Contain Silicon
(Si) and Oxygen
(O)

Quartz
(contains ONLY Si and O)
Feldspars (Si + O +
another metal)

Make up 96% of
the Earths Crust
Feldspars and Quartz
alone make up over
50% of Earths Crust!
Silicate
Minerals
Do NOT contain
Silicon (Si) AND
Oxygen (O)
They CAN contain
either Si OR O
Make up only
4% of Earths
Crust
Halite (NaCl)
Calcite (CaCO
3
)
Silver (Ag),
Copper (Cu)
Galena (PbS)
Pyrite (FeS
2
)
Organized into 6
groups (You dont
have to memorize all
the names!) Pg. 113
Non-Silicate
Minerals
Are the Following Minerals Silicate, or
Non-Silicate Minerals?
Fluorite (CaF
2
) ______________
Hematite (Fe
2
O
3
) _______________
Orthoclase (KAlSi
3
O
8
) ____________
Pyrite (FeS
2
) ________________
Quartz (SiO
2
) _________________
Are the Following Minerals Silicate, or
Non-Silicate Minerals?
Fluorite (CaF
2
) Non-Silicate
Hematite (Fe
2
O
3
) Non-Silicate
Orthoclase Silicate
(KAlSi
3
O
8
)
Pyrite (FeS
2
) Non-Silicate
Quartz (SiO
2
) Silicate
Crystal Structure
All minerals have a
crystalline shape
Crystal shape is
determined by the
arrangement of atoms
in the solid
Really nice big crystals
only form where nature
allows (caves, bottom
of bodies of water, etc)
Usually crystals dont
have room to grow and
so they grow as a big
mass. This makes it
difficult to determine
crystal shape.
Silicate Mineral Model
Using page 114, build a model of a silicon-
oxygen tetrahedron and be prepared to answer
the following questions:

What do the toothpicks represent?
What do the large marshmallows represent?
What does the small marshmallow represent?