Chapter 2 - Rocks & Minerals Flashcards

1
Q

What is an atom?

A

It is the smallest particle into which an element can be divided while still retaining its chemical characteristics

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2
Q

What is the nucleus?

A

It is the center of the atom. It contains one or more protons and usually some neutrons of equal mass.

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3
Q

How are protons, neutrons, and electrons distributed within an atom?

A

Protons and neutrons are of similar mass, electrons float around the atom in a cloud.

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4
Q

What is the atomic number?

A

The characteristic number of protons in an element.

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5
Q

What is the atomic mass number?

A

It is the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in a nucleus.

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6
Q

What are isotopes?

A

They are atoms with the same number of protons but different number of neutrons.

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7
Q

What is an ion?

A

When an electrically neutral atom loses or gains a proton/neutron, and turns into a positively or negatively charged atom.

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8
Q

What are positively charged ions called?

A

Cations

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9
Q

What are negatively charged ions called?

A

Anions

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10
Q

Who first published the periodic table?

A

The Russian scientist Dimitri Mendeleyev (1869).

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11
Q

What is a compound?

A

It is a chemical combination of two or more chemical elements, bonded together in particular proportions and has a distinct set of physical properties.

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12
Q

What is ionic bonding?

A

It is when a bond is based on the electrical attraction between oppositely charged ions.

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13
Q

What is covalent bonding?

A

When bonds between atoms is based off of shared electrons.

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14
Q

What are crystalline materials?

A

They are solids in which the atoms or ions are arranged in regular, repeating patterns.

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15
Q

What is a mineral?

A

It is a naturally occurring, inorganic, solid element or compound with a definite chemical composition and a regular internal crystal structure.

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16
Q

What is a streak?

A

The color of the powder a mineral leaves behind when scraped across a piece of unglazed tile.

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17
Q

How is hardness in a mineral measured?

A

Using the Mohs hardness scale.

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18
Q

What is cleavage?

A

It is the distinctive way in which some minerals break up when struck.

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19
Q

What is luster?

A

It describes the appearance of the surface of the mineral.

20
Q

How can minerals be grouped or subdivided?

A

They can be distinguished on the basis of their composition and crystal structure.

21
Q

What is the largest compositional group of minerals?

A

Silicates, all of which are compounds containing silicon and oxygen.

22
Q

What is the basic building block of all silicates?

A

It is the tetrahedral arrangement of four oxygen atoms (anions) around the much smaller silicon cation.

23
Q

How are silica tetrahedra linked?

A

They may be linked into chains, sheets, or three-dimensional frameworks by sharing oxygen atoms.

24
Q

What does the term ferromagnesian refer to?

A

It is the term used to describe silicates that contain iron and/or magnesium, with or without additional elements.

25
Q

What are carbonates?

A

They all contain carbon and oxygen combined in the proportions of the atom of carbon to three atoms of oxygen.

26
Q

What are sulfates?

A

They are minerals which all contain sulfur and oxygen in a 1:4 ratio.

27
Q

What is a sulfide?

A

When sulfur is present without oxygen in a mineral.

28
Q

What are oxides?

A

Minerals containing just one or more metals combined with oxygen, and lack other elements needed to classify them as silicates, sulfates, carbonates, and so forth.

29
Q

What are Native Elements?

A

They are minerals that consist of a single chemical element, and the minerals’ names are usually the same as the corresponding element.

30
Q

What is a rock?

A

It is a solid, cohesive aggregate of one or more minerals, or mineral materials.

31
Q

What are the three broad categories of rock?

A

Igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic.

32
Q

What is the essence of the concept of the rock cycle?

A

Rocks are not the permanent objects we imagine them to be, rather they are continually being changed by geologic processes.

33
Q

What is magma?

A

It is the name given to naturally occurring hot, molten rock material.

34
Q

How is an ingenious rock formed?

A

By the solidification and crystallization of a cooling magma.

35
Q

What are plutonic rocks?

A

When magma cools bellow the surface over a long period of time, due to this extended cooling process the crystals have ample time to form and grow very large.

36
Q

What is lava?

A

A magma that flows out on the earth’s surface while still wholly or partially melted.

37
Q

What does the term volcanic mean?

A

It is given to an igneous rock formed at or close to the earth’s surface.

38
Q

How does natural glass form?

A

When cooling occurs very fast, even tiny crystals too small to be distinguished with the naked eye.

39
Q

What are sedimentary rocks?

A

They are formed from loose unconsolidated accumulations of mineral or rock particles that have been transported by wind, water, or ice that eventually lithify under the pressure of other sediments being deposited on top of previous layers.

40
Q

What is lithification?

A

When sediments are compacted or cemented together into a solid, cohesive mass.

41
Q

What are clastic sedimentary rocks?

A

They are formed from the products of the mechanical breakup of other rocks.

42
Q

What are chemical sedimentary rocks?

A

They form not from mechanical breakup and transport of fragments, but from crystals formed by precipitation or growth from solution.

43
Q

What are organic sediments?

A

They are carbon-rich remains of living organism.

44
Q

What is a metamorphic rock?

A

It is a rock that has formed from a preexisting rock that was subject to heat and/or pressure.

45
Q

What is contact metamorphism?

A

When hot magma formed at depth rises to shallower levels in the crust, it heats the adjacent, cooler rocks and they may metamorphose.

46
Q

What is regional metamorphism?

A

It is a type of metamorphism that results from the stress and heating to which rocks are subject to during mountain-building or plate-tectonic movement.

47
Q

What is foliation?

A

It is when direct stress is applied to a rock so that the minerals form elongated or Plath crystals that line up parallel to each other.