Mineral Classes

Question 1

What controls the physical properties of a crystal

Answer 1

The physical properties of minerals are influenced by how the atoms in the crystal lattice are arranged and the types of bonds that hold the lattice together.

Question 2

What mineral class is very abundant because of the large amount of two certain elements in the earth’s crust

Answer 2

Silicate minerals because of the abundance of Si and O

Question 3

What is the basic building block of most minerals

Answer 3

Silicate tetrahedron

Question 4

What is the silicate tetrahedron made of and what is its charge

Answer 4

One silicon atom and four oxygen atoms giving it a charge of -4

Question 5

What are the two types of bonds that can exist in a silicate mineral and which is stronger

Answer 5

Ionic bonds and covalent bonds. Covalent bonds are stronger

Question 6

How many types of silicate mineral structures exist

Answer 6

Six

Question 7

What are the five ways a mineral can form

Answer 7

Solidification, precipitation out of solution, solid-state diffusion, biomineralization, and precipitation from gas

Question 8

What are the three types of rocks

Answer 8

Igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary

Question 9

What are the two ways an igneous rock is formed

Answer 9

Minerals crystalizing from molten rock or from precipitation of minerals from a gas

Question 10

What are the two ways a sedimentary rock is formed

Answer 10

Rock fragments that are buried, compress and glued together by other minerals or crystallize from dissolved elements in groundwater

Question 11

How is a metamorphic rock formed

Answer 11

A rock is heated squeezed and deformed