Minerals

By the end of the lesson, I will be

able to…

Identify the characteristics of a

mineral.
Identify the properties of
minerals and explain how
minerals are identified.
Properties of Minerals
I. What is a Mineral?
A. A mineral is a naturally occurring,
inorganic solid that has a crystal
structure and a definite chemical
composition.
I. What is a Mineral?
B. A mineral must also be inorganic,
meaning that it can’t come from
materials that were once part of a living
thing.
I. What is a Mineral?
C. Being a solid means that minerals have
a definite volume and shape.
D. The repeating pattern of a mineral’s
particles forms a solid called a crystal.
I. What is a Mineral?
E. An element is a substance composed of
a single kind of atom.
F. Most minerals are compounds, having
two or more elements combined so that
the elements no longer have distinct
properties.
G. A mixture consists of two or more
substances that are mixed together but
not chemically.
II. Identifying Minerals
• each mineral has distinct and
recognizable characteristics to help
identify it
• hardness, color, streak, luster, density,
crystal systems, cleavage, and fracture
II. Identifying Minerals
• The Mohs hardness scale ranks ten
minerals from softest to hardest.
• Color is only useful for identifying a few
minerals, because many of them can be
a variety of colors.
II. Identifying Minerals
The streak of a mineral is the color of its
powder, and it’s often a different color than
the mineral itself.
II. Identifying Minerals
Luster is the term used to describe how
a mineral reflects light from its surface.
II. Identifying Minerals
Cleavage - describes how a mineral
tends to break along preferred planes
Fracture – irregular breaks not along the
preferred planes

***needs pix
hereeee**
II. Identifying Minerals
• Some minerals can glow under
ultraviolet light have a property known
as fluorescence.
• Some minerals are magnetic,
radioactive, or have electrical
properties.
How Minerals Form
By the end of the lesson, I will be
able to…

Describe the processes by

which minerals form.
I. Processes that Form Minerals
A. Minerals can form in two ways:
• crystallization of melted
materials
• crystallization of materials
dissolved in water
B. Crystallization is the process by
which atoms are arranged to
form a material with a crystal
structure.
II. Minerals from Magma
A. Magma is molten material from the
mantle that hardens to form rock.
B. Lava is magma that reaches the
surface.
C. Magma and lava form minerals by
cooling.
D. The faster they cool, the smaller the
size of the crystals and vice
versa.
III. Minerals from Hot Water Solutions
A. Magma can heat water and cause
minerals to dissolve, forming a solution.
B. A solution is a mixture in which one
substance dissolves in another.
C. As the solution cools, the elements and
compounds crystallize.
D. Pure metals that crystallize underground
from hot water solutions often form
veins, a narrow channel or slab of a
mineral that’s
different than the
surrounding rock.
III. Minerals from Hot Water Solutions
• Many minerals form from solutions at
places where there are cracks in the crust
on the ocean floor.
• Ocean water seeps down through cracks
in the crust.
• The water then touches the magma,
heating it up.
• The heated water dissolves minerals and
rushes upwards through vents or
“chimneys.”
• When the solution hits the cold water, the
minerals crystallize.
IV. Minerals Formed by Evaporation
A. Minerals can also form when solutions
evaporate.
B. The mineral crystals will remain when the
water is evaporated.
V. Where Minerals are Found
A. Earth’s crust is made up mostly of the
common rock-forming minerals combined
in various types of rock.
B. Many valuable minerals are found in or
near areas of volcanic activity.
In-Class Review
1. What are the two main ways in which
minerals form?
2. Describe how the cooling rate of magma
affects the size of the mineral crystals
formed.
3. What are the steps by which mineral
deposits form around chimneys on the
ocean floor?
4. A miner finds a vein of silver. Describe a
process that could have formed the
vein.
Mineral Resources
By the end of the lesson, I will be
able to…

Describe how minerals are used.

List the three types of mines.
Explain how ores are processed to
obtain metals.
I. The Uses of Minerals
A. Minerals are the source of metals,
gemstones, and other materials used to
make many products.
B. A gemstone is a hard, colorful mineral that
has a brilliant or glassy luster.
II. Ores
A. A rock that contains a metal or
economically useful mineral is called an
ore.
B. Most metals do not occur in a pure form.
III. Prospecting
A. A prospector is anyone who searches, or
prospects, for an ore deposit.
B. Geologists observe the rocks, plants,
and water in an area to see what metals
may be present.
C. Sometimes geologists set off
explosions underground and
study the shock waves to find
ore deposits.
IV. Mining
There are diff. types of mining:
• Surface mining – materials are lying
over a deposit are removed
• Subsurface mining – underground
mineral sources are removed through
tunnels and shafts

Surface mining
• Strip mining
• Contour strip
mining
• Mountaintop
removal
IV. Mining
• strip mining - earthmoving
equipment scrapes away soil to
expose ore that lie in horizontal
beds
• Contour strip mining – gigantic
power shovels and bulldozers cut
series of terraces into the side of a
hill
• Mountaintop removal – remove
top of the mountain to expose
seams of minerals; uses explosives
V. Smelting
A. After miners remove ore from a mine,
smelting is necessary to remove the
metal from the ore.
B. In smelting, an ore is melted to
separate the useful metal from the
other elements in the ore.
C. Some metal ores are processed into
alloys, which are solid mixtures of two or
more metals.
In-Class Review
1. What are some of the ways that people
use gems and metals?
2. Describe three different kinds of mines.
3. What process is used to separate useful
metals from ores?
4. What are alloys, and why are they
useful?
5. In smelting, what causes a metal to
separate from its ore?
Most Common Element in Earth’s
Crust
Percentage composition by mass:
Oxygen = 46.6% + carbon
Silicon = 27.7%
Aluminum = 8.1% Resulting to most
Iron = 5.0% common mineral groups:
Calcium = 3.6% • Silicates (92% of earth’s
Sodium = 2.8% crust)
Potassium = 2.6% • SiO2 = silica

Magnesium = 2.09 • Oxides

Total = 98.7 • Carbonates
Group Activity

1. List different uses of minerals.

2. Site harmful effects of mining.
3. How can we use mineral resources
more sustainably?
4. List ways in which you could make
your lifestyle more environmentally
sustainable.