Minerals

Mrs. Fritts7th Grade Science

Fluorite

Fluorite is used in:• Toothpaste “Fluoride”• Pottery• Ceramics• Paint Pigment

Halite (Rock Salt)

• Evaporation of lakes, seas• Commonly recognized as salt, halite is used in

human and animal diet, food seasoning and food preservation

• Mineral waters• Soap • Home water softeners • Highway de-icer• Ice Cream production

Marble

• Used as stone in building construction and for making decorative items such as pillars, floor and bath tiles, table tops etc.

Talc

• Softest • Baby powder

– Astringent for rashes

• Soapstone• Gymnastics to grasp Bars

Copper

• Conductor• Currency• Electrical wires• Sculptures• Computer circuits and chips

Quartz

• Gemstones• Glass manufacturing• Radios• Computers• Electronic equipment

– Piezoelectric property– Quartz clock

Diamond

• Hardest Mineral• Cutting tools

– Dentist Drill

• Blades• Saws• Commercial Items

Mining for Ores• A cheap way of locating ore deposit and bringing it

to the surface is to blast away the soil and rock which is called “overburden”

• Toxins - mercury, arsenic, selenium and lead • When gold is extracted, it is crushed and sprayed

with cyanide, which bonds with the gold. Cyanide then leaches. A dose of cyanide the size of a grain of rice is enough to kill a human while one millionth of a gram per liter of water is enough to kill fish.

• The damage to land after a large-scale mining operation has finished is devastating and leaves the landscape so polluted that it cannot properly sustain life for thousands of years.

Mineral ID Lab Introduction

• Performing Two Physical Property Tests– Hardness Test– Streak Test

• Use these two tests to identify a mineral

Streak Test

• Often, minerals have a different color streak than the original color of the mineral.

• Test the streak of the minerals with a Streak Plate and write down the streak you see.

• Also, identify the color of the mineral

• Sometimes minerals have the same color and streak , so geologists use another test….

Color and Streak Test

• Identifying six minerals using color and streak-– Garnet– Olivine– Red Hematite– Malachite– Magnetite– Hornblende

Example TableNumber Name Color Streak

Garnet Red White

Olivine Green White

Hardness Test1 = Talc2 = Gypsum3 = Calcite4 = Fluorite5 = Apatite6 = Feldspar7 = Quartz8 = Topaz9 = Corundium10 = Diamond

Finger Nail = 2.5 Copper Penny = 3.0Nail = 5.5 Glass Plate = 5.5Steel File = 6.5

Which minerals can scratch other minerals?