Earth's Materials Rocks and Minerals: 7 Grade Science

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Earths Materials Rocks and Minerals

7th Grade Science

Properties of Minerals; Naturally occurring-not man made, not made of plants or animal Inorganic Solids Definite chemical composition

Formed by natural processes without any human input Inorganic is when something occurs by natural processes A crystalline solid means is has a definite chemical composition and definite shape Only a mineral can be a solid but not all solids are minerals

Crystalline means the pattern occurs over and over again and is repeating Crystals are solids with atoms that repeat in the same pattern Crystals are formed by two processes; Magma and solutions of salts

Magma is the hot melted rock-magma can cool inside Earths surface or when it reaches the outside of Earths surface When magma cools slow, the atoms have time to form a pattern and move close together The way the magma cools either slow or fast, determines the type of crystals that are present

Slow cooling magma-below Earths surface forms large easily visible crystals Fast cooling magma forms small crystals which are hard to visualize

Crystals from solutions When the water evaporates the ions that are left behind come together to form crystals

The most common rock forming minerals are silicates; they contain silicon and oxygen and usually another element Silicon and oxygen are the two most common elements in the earths crust

Properties are what allows you to tell one object from another Mineral appearance-the way the mineral looks. Dont depend on this to identify the mineral Color and appearance are helpful but not dependable tools to identify the mineral

Hardness-how easily a mineral can be scratched Softest is talc and the hardest is diamond Use the Mohs scale to determine the hardness of a mineral

Luster-the ability of the mineral to reflect light Metallic or nonmetallic Metallic is shiny and bright Non metallic is dull, pearly, silky and glassy

Specific gravity-the weight of the mineral compared to an equal weight of water

Streak-the powdered color of the mineral When rubbed across a piece of unglazed porcelain tile it is the color left behind Example gold and fools gold look alike but the streak patterns are different; gold is yellow and fools gold is black/greenish

The way a mineral breaks also tells about its identity Cleavage-the way the mineral breaks along smooth flat surfaces

If the mineral breaks with rough uneven edges it has fracture

Gems are rare beautiful flawless minerals that are sold for a high price

Olivine composes a large part of Earths upper mantle, it is present in moon rocks also. Garnet is found in a wide variety of rocks. The red color of almandine is caused by iron in its crystal structure Quarts makes up about 30% of the Earths continental crust

Olivine= MINERAL
Garnet= MINERAL Quartz= MINERAL

Periodot= GEM
Almandine =GEM Amethyst= GEM

Arizona, New Mexico, Myanmar, Zebirget

Italy, Madagascar, India, North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico

Colorless varieties found in Hot Springs, Arkansas, Amethyst in Brazil, Uruguay, Madagascar, Montana, North Carolina, California, Maine Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Kashmir

Blue color of sapphire is caused by iron or titanium in corundum. Chromium in corundum produces the red color of ruby

Corundum Blue =MINERAL Sapphire= GEM

Beryl is named for the element beryllium.

BERYL= MINERAL
SPINEL= MINERAL

EMERALD =GEM

Colombia, Brazil, South Africa, North Carolina

Purplish blue examples of zoisite were discovered in 1967, near Tanzania

ZOISITE= MINERAL TOPAZ= MINERAL

Sri Lanka, Thailand, Ruby Myanmar (Burma) Spinel= GEM TANZANIT Tanzania E=GEM

TOPAZ= GEM

Siberia, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Texas, California, Maine, Virginia, South Carolina

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