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Minerals Flashcards

1
Q

Lithosphere

A

A general term that encompasses the entire solid Earth realm. In plate tectonics, it refers to the solid, brittle outer part of the Earth; includes the crust and mantle.

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2
Q

Atmosphere

A

The air surrounding the Earth. It is made of gases such as oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, etc

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3
Q

Hydrosphere

A

The water part of the Earth. Includes oceans, groundwater, and water held in the atmosphere. The Earth is covered by .75 water and .25 land mass

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4
Q

What are the four major zones of the Earth’s lithosphere?

A

Crust
Mantle
Outer core
Inner core

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5
Q

Crust

A

The thinnest zone of Earth’s lithosphere; the outermost solid shell or layer of earth. 3-40 km thick; composed largely of silicate minerals. The continents compose the crust and are about 40 km thick. The ocean crust is thinner (3-8km)

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6
Q

Mantle

A

Plastic deformable layer under the crust in the Earth’s lithosphere. Approx. 1800 miles thick. Made of dense rock. Contains iron.

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7
Q

Innter and outer core

A

Combined thickness of the two zones is 2100 miles
Both consist or iron and nickel
Outer core: molten
Inner core: solid, about 7400F, high pressure (100 million pounds/in^2)

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8
Q

Regolith

A

All the loose eroded material at the Earth’s surface. The layer of mineral particles covering bedrock, e.g., soil, weathered rock.

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9
Q

Minerals

A

Crystalline, inorganic, naturally occurring substances with definite physical and chemical properties and chemical composition. They consist of chemical elements or compounds, e.g., graphite, pyrite, quartz, olivene

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10
Q

Element

A

A substance consisting of only one type of atom. There are more than 100 elements that occur in nature like gold, silver, oxygen, and chlorine.

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11
Q

Compound

A

A substance consisting of two or more elements chemically combined, eg salt (sodium and chlorine), water (hydrogen and oxygen)

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12
Q

How are minerals identified?

A

Chemical and physical properties.
Example-
Diamonds are very hard
Water is liquid at room temp and boils at 100C

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13
Q

Physical properties (name 13)

A

Properties that can be seen or felt, like color, hardness, boiling and melting points, luster, malleability, ductility, conductivity, solubility, streak, cleavage, fracture, crystal shape, specific grav

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14
Q

Chemical properties

A

Properties that describe how a substance reacts with others like sodium burning in air and water or iron rusting

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15
Q

How do you measure a mineral’s hardness?

A

Hardness is the resistance of a mineral to abrasion or scratching. We can use a scale that incorporates the hardness of ordinary objects (like copper penny, glass, knife blade, fingernail). We can observe how easily a substance scratches OTHER materials (diamond can scratch glass) or how easily it is scratched by other minerals

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16
Q

What is the Moh’s scale of hardness?

A

A method for comparing the relative hardness of minerals. Values from 1 (softest) to 10 (hardest)

17
Q

List the ten minerals that identify the values of the M. Scale of Hardness.

A
  1. Talc
  2. Gypsum (2.5 = fingernail)
  3. Calcite, Penny
  4. Fluorite
  5. Apatite
  6. Fedspar, glass, knife blade, orthoclase
  7. Quartz
  8. Topaz
  9. Corumdum
  10. Diamond
18
Q

Streak

A

The color of a mineral when it is ground into powder. Rub a mineral against streak plate (dull piece of ceramic tile) to see streak.

19
Q

Streak is ___ for metallic minerals and ___ for non-metallic minerals

A

Dark grey or black

Colorless or lighter than mineral

20
Q

Cleavage

A

Because of the weaknesses in atomic structure, some minerals break along predictable planes of weakness called cleavage planes (like how mica splits only in one direction in very thin sheets or feldspar cleaves in two directions)

21
Q

Fracture

A

Some minerals have no cleavage zones. They split with rough, irregular surfaces (like quartz)

22
Q

Crystal

A

Regular arrangement of atoms in a mineral. A definite pattern is repeated through the substance. It is the external expression of a mineral that reflects the orderly internal arrangement of atoms, like how quartz crystals are 6 side prisms and pyrite and salt are cubic

23
Q

Unit cell

A

Smallest unit that repeats in crystal

24
Q

How is a crystal formed?

A

When molten rock cools slowly or water with dissolved mineral evaporates slowly, its atoms have the time to form regular patterns. This occurs any time a mineral is permitted to form without space restrictions.

25
Q

Luster

A

Describes the shine of a material

26
Q

What are the two types of luster?

A

Metallic - like the shine of polished silver or foil

Nonmetallic - the shine of glass, quartz, rubies, emeralds

27
Q

Specific gravity

A

The comparison of the weight of a mineral to the weight of an equal volume of water

Specific gravity=
weight of mineral / weight of eq. vol. H2O

28
Q

A substance with a specific gravity greater than water will ___ in water; with a lesser specific gravity it will ___

A

sink

float

29
Q

Radioactivity

A

A physical property of a limited number of minerals. The nuclei of an element’s atoms decay into another element (like how uranium decays to lead). Granites are sometimes radioactive because they contain such minerals

30
Q

Double refraction

A

Ability of a crystal to split a beam of light in two. You will see two images when you look through the mineral (like calcite)

31
Q

Lodestone is an example of what type of mineral?

A

A magnetic mineral. Lodestone is a piece of magnetite with magnetic properties that attracts steel or iron.

32
Q

Fluoresence

A

The absoption of ultraviolet light remitted as visible light. Minerals that glow with color when exposed UV light or x-rays are fluorescent, like fluorite.

33
Q

Ore

A

A mineral that occurs in large amounts and is obtained by mining (like iron, zinc, copper, etc.)

34
Q

What is the mineral source of chalk?

A

calcite

35
Q

What is the mineral source of pencil lead?

A

graphite - lead ore

36
Q

What is the mineral source of iron?

A

hematite

37
Q

What is the mineral source of bricks?

A

kaolinite

38
Q

What is the mineral source of copper?

A

chalcopyrite

39
Q

What is the mineral source of mercury?

A

cinnabar

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