Minerals are nonliving substances that make up rocks. Minerals like granite have many different types of minerals in them. Other minerals like marble only has one type of mineral. All minerals have the same combination and element. All though granite will always be made of the element carbon.Table salt is always going to be made of chlorine and sodium. Every mineral has it’s very own chemical make up. Minerals have a certain crystal shape and the shapes can be cubes or hexagons. There over 3,000 types of mineral that scientists have found and 30 are common.
Minerals are identified by their properties. One of the properties is color but color can’t always identify minerals for example felspar and quartz are both white. There are many more properties like luster, luster describes the way the light reflects off a mineral. Mineral’s luster can be shiny, dull, glassy, pearly, or greasy. Cleavage is the way a mineral splits in pieces, mica splits in thin sheets, calcite splits like a cube, and quartz splits unevenly. Streak is the color of the powder left when a mineral is scratched on a streak plate some types of minerals leave the same color as the mineral by itself, other types of minerals leave different streak colors.
Hardness can identify minerals by scratching a mineral to another mineral. Mohs’ hardness scale only shows the hardness of a few common minerals, there are many more levels for hardness, diamond is ten on the hardness scale, and talc is one on the hardness scale. Minerals are made of different things on this like glasses, jewelry, paint, toothpaste. Ores are mined because they contain many useful minerals.
Minerals are identified by their properties. One of the properties is color but color can’t always identify minerals for example felspar and quartz are both white. There are many more properties like luster, luster describes the way the light reflects off a mineral. Mineral’s luster can be shiny, dull, glassy, pearly, or greasy. Cleavage is the way a mineral splits in pieces, mica splits in thin sheets, calcite splits like a cube, and quartz splits unevenly. Streak is the color of the powder left when a mineral is scratched on a streak plate some types of minerals leave the same color as the mineral by itself, other types of minerals leave different streak colors.
Hardness can identify minerals by scratching a mineral to another mineral. Mohs’ hardness scale only shows the hardness of a few common minerals, there are many more levels for hardness, diamond is ten on the hardness scale, and talc is one on the hardness scale. Minerals are made of different things on this like glasses, jewelry, paint, toothpaste. Ores are mined because they contain many useful minerals.