Links and References

1.Games: some helpful games.... how much do you know?

a. http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/thezone/minerals/usage/games/set01.htm

b. http://www.sdnhm.org/kids/minerals/games/index.html

c. http://classes.colgate.edu/rapril/geol201/game/game.html


2. Info: try this websites to get more information

a. http://www.minerals.net/

b. http://webmineral.com/ (check at Help Index)

c. http://www.galleries.com/Minerals/By_Name.htm

Bibliography:

Jenner Jan, Pasachoff M. Jay, Wellnitz R. Thomas, Kemp C. Andrew, Simons B. Barbara and Wysession Michael. Prentice Hall Earth Science. United States of America: Discovery Channel School, 2007. Minerals p. 64.

An exel file that contains the mineral chart:

http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=1395fd4a166987560c814df2efeadc50e04e75f6e8ebb871

Characteristics of Minerals

Eevery mineral has these five characteristics: naturally occuring, inorganic, solid, crystal structure and definit chemical composition. If a mineral misses any of this charactersitics, you can predict and know that, that one is not a mineral. First we have naturally occuring; these means "the substance must be formed by processes in the natural world. " For example quartz is formed when its composition cools and hardens bellow earths surface. When materials such as brick and glass are made by people, we can obviously say that its not a mineral.

Another characteristic that all minerals have is that they are inorganic, this means that "the mineral cannot form from materials that were once part of a living thing." For exmample coal is not mineral, because it comes from remains of dead plants and animals. Solid is another mineral characteristic, this means that it has a definite volume and a definite chape. The particles that make a mineral are all squeezed together, that why it is a solid material; in comparison to water or vapor, the particles are spread.

Christal structure is another characteristic of minerals; which means "the particles of a mineral line up ina a pattern that repeats over and over again." This process of repetition of particles forms a crystal. The last characteristic that all minerals chare is definit chemical composition, this means that "a mineral always contains certain elements in definit portions." Almost all minerals are compound, and a good example is quartz, that has one atom of silicon for every two atoms of oxygen.

The six crystal systems

Every crystal class is part of the six crystal systems. These are: orthorombic, tetragonal, monoclinic, triclinic, isomtric or cubic and hexagonal crystal systems. Each system has some characteristics, that help identify the. The only one thats sord of different is the hexagonal, because its broken in hexagonal divitions.

As I was saying, isometric or cubic has all 90 degree angles, and the formula is: a1=a2=a3, which means they are all the same. The other one is tetragonal, this one also has all angles 90 degree angles, and the formula is a1=a2≠c. The other one is hexagonal, and is the only one that has different divitions; it has 90 degree angles between a1-3 to c: 90˚ and angles between a axes are: 60˚ angles; its formula is: a1=a2=a3≠c.

Another crystal system is orthorombic, it has all 90 degree angles, and its formula is a≠b≠c. Then is monoclinic, and angles between a&b and b&c: 90 degree angles, and between c&a: 90 degree angles; its formula is a≠b≠c. And the last is triclinic, all angles are 90 degrees; its formula is a≠b≠c.

Properties of minerals

There are six main properties of minerals, with this you can identify them. These are: luster, hardness, streak, cleavage or fracture, density and color. The properties, that are more useful to identify a mineral is the streak and luster. The property that is not really useful is color, beacuse many minerals can show a color thats not its real color.

As I was saying, an important property in mierals is the luster."Luster is the term used to describe how light is reflected from a minerals surface. " There are eight types of luster: waxy, earthy, pearly, silky, greasy, metallic, submetallic- dull and glassy. Another property thats really useful to identify a mineral is hardness. You can test the minerals hardness with the mohs hardness scale that goes form that softest mineral being talc, to the hardest being diamond. The other way is making the field test were you scratch a mineral with different things such as fingernail, that is number one on the mohs scale, then a copper penny can scratchit, that would be number three, after this comes a steel knife that would be number four, then it can be scratched by glass, that would be number 6, and then the other minerals in the mohs scale can scratch the ones that come before.

Each mineral has a characteristic: density. "Density is the mass in a given space, or mass per unit volume."Density never changes, even if you break the rock in many little pieces the density would be the same. For example, if you take galena and quartz of the same size, you could could see galena is much denser by holding it, even thoughis the same size, and even if quartz is bigger, galena would be denser. Streak is the powder the mineral lifes. You can find the streak by having a piece of black marble if its a light mineral, or a piece of wuite marble if is a dark mineral. Then you take the mineral and scratch it against the marble, and the powder ir left, is the color.
These are some properties of minerals that are useful to identify them.

Project Introduction

My name is Nicole Chávez I´m a student in Colegio Menor SFQ and I was assigned to explain more about minerals by the science class. My role is to be a geologist, and explain to all the people that are interested and want to learn more, about many things that minerals hide, and some tips to identify them. I chose minerals as a theme, because as we have all seen, they are just incredible, everyone loves them, mostly for their jewelry. But, there is more than just jewelry, there is information that goes after them, and that's why this blog was created, to teach you everything.

My audience is all the people that want to learn more, all students, and teachers that would prove my knol edge on this incredible natural forming crystals. I hope that you learn something from this information, and like I enjoy studying this, I think you will also do. Is always good to learn more about the things that surround you, discover them!

I am going to use this blog to transmit all the information needed for a successful product, and also will use excel and fireworks, to end up with valuable charts, and a beautiful mineral poster.
With this three programs, I hope anyone ho sees this, will learn something more, that an eighth grade student taught.