Identify the Minerals

© Copyright 2005.  M. J. Krech. All rights reserved.

Can you identify these minerals?

1. What is this mineral?

Properties:

• Hardness: 5 - 6• Luster: Earthy, nonmetallic    (but sometimes metallic)• Streak: Red• Color: Steel-gray, red,

reddish-brown, or black• Breakage: Fracture

1. This mineral is Hematite.

• Source of red pigments

in paint

• Important iron ore

• Named from the Greek word for blood

2. What is this mineral?

Properties:

•Hardness: 3.5-5.5•Luster: Resinous,    nonmetallic•Streak: yellow-brown•Color: yellow, brown, red,    green, black and    sometimes gray•Breakage: Fracture

2. This mineral is Sphalerite.• A principal source

of zinc • Sometimes called

Zincblende• Often associated

with galena deposits• Difficult for miners

to distinguish from galena, so they named it sphalerite which is Greek for treacherous rock

3. What is this mineral?

Properties:

•Cleavage: cubic•Hardness: 2.5•Very heavy•Luster: Metallic•Color: Lead to silver gray•Streak: Lead gray

3. This mineral is Galena.

• Most important ore of lead

• Used in X-ray shield aprons

• Associated with pyrite and chalcopyrite

• Some Galena may contain up to 1% silver in place of lead

4. What is this mineral?Properties:

• Color: white to green to gray

• Hardness: 1     (softest mineral on Moh’s scale)

• Streak: Wwhite

• Breakage: Perfect basal cleavage

• Luster: Nonmetallic - waxy or pearly

• Special Property: soapy feel

4. This mineral is Talc.

• Uses: heat-resistant science lab countertops, paints, insecticides

• A specimen of what looks like a milky quartz will be a big surprise when it has a soapy feel and can be scratched by a fingernail!

5. What is this mineral?

Properties:

• Color: Colorless or tinted gray, brown, yellow, green, or rarely, red or violet

• Hardness: 2 - 2.5

• Streak: White

• Breakage: Perfect basal cleavage - splits into thin sheets

• Luster: Nonmetallic - vitreous, pearly

5. This mineral is Mica.• Also called: Muscovite

• Uses: fireproofing, lubricant, old-fashioned wood stove windows

• Sheets of muscovite have high heat and electrical insulating properties and are used to make electrical components

6. What is this mineral?

• Color: Yellow-brown to dark brown

• Streak: Brownish yellow to yellow

• Luster: Nonmetallic - Earthy (dull)

• Hardness: 4 - 5.5• Breakage: Fracture

6. This mineral is Limonite.

• Important source of iron

• Associated with hematite, another iron ore

7. What is this mineral?

Properties:

• Color: Usually white

• Hardness: 1.5 - 2

• Streak: White

• Breakage: Basal cleavage

• Luster: Nonmetallic -      Earthy (dull)

• Source of clay for ceramics

• Used in toothpaste and medicine

7. This mineral is Kaolinite.

8. What is this mineral?Properties:

• Color: Clear if no impurities, then pink, gray, purple, yellow, green, brown, orange

• Hardness: 7

• Streak: White

• Breakage: Conchoidal Fracture

• Luster: Nonmetallic - Vitreous

8. This mineral is Quartz.

• Uses: lenses, glass, digital watches, sandpaper

• Quartz crystals often line the interior of a Geode

9. What mineral is this?Properties:

• Color: white, gray, yellow, red, orange, and rarely, green

• Hardness: 6

• Streak: White

• Breakage: Cleavage

• Luster: Nonmetallic -      vitreous to pearly

9. This mineral is Feldspar.

•Used in the manufacture of porcelain, and scouring powder

      

•When pearly - called Moonstone  and used in jewelry

10. What mineral is this?

Properties:

• Color: White to gray to pink

• Hardness: 1.5 - 2

• Streak: White

• Breakage: Conchoidal Fracture, sometimes fibrous

• Luster: Nonmetallic -       vitreous to silky to pearly

10. This mineral is Gypsum.

• Used to make blackboard chalk, toothpaste, surgical casts, plaster of Paris, and drywall

The End• Your house came from

a mine!

• If it can’t be grown, it must be mined!

• List 10 things in your house that originally came from a mine.

© Copyright 2005.  M. J. Krech. All rights reserved.