Practice Physical Properties of Minerals: Unit 3 Assignment

This document is the property of the University System of Georgia and is protected by the USG copyright policy. This document is not to be uploaded to any third-party site. Using this document for anything other than educational purposes among students in this course is a violation of the Academic Integrity policies of this course on behalf of the student and a violation of copyright law on behalf of the third- party site. Unit 3: Matter and Minerals Lecture Assignment: Practice with Physical Properties Name: ____________________________ Date:______________ All answers should be in BLUE font. Objective: This assignment is meant as practice with physical properties reviewed in lecture, as well as to get students accustomed to using the mineral testing tools provided in their rock and mineral kits. For this assignment you will need:  5 objects from around your house of similar size o These objects don’t have to be rock or mineral related, but it is important to have objects of a similar size in order for some of the tests you will perform to work. An example of objects you could use are: tennis ball, landscaping rock, old notebook, metal cooking spoon/ladle, and/or an old picture frame. These objects need to be objects you don’t mind scratching up or being rough on.  Mineral testing materials: copper plate, streak plate, glass plate, nail. You will NOT use your bottle of acid for this activity. Acid is only to be used for testing the rocks and minerals in your kit.  The ability to upload pictures into this document. If you do not have that ability, please let your instructor know and include detailed descriptions where appropriate. Background: *You should have completed reviewing all lecture materials before attempting to complete this assignment* In this unit, the lectures discussed how important the physical properties of minerals were; geologists and introductory students alike use physical properties to identify minerals. Each mineral has a unique set of physical properties, therefore it is important to understand how to identify and see these properties in minerals. This is one of the hardest aspects of learning minerals. However, we observe physical properties in objects all around us every day. For instance, we can look at an iron porch railing and automatically think of it as a metallic railing instead of a nonmetallic wooden railing. We do this with little thought, but our ability to observe physical properties helps us to understand and identify objects in the world around us. It is no different with minerals. This activity will help you to make these observations with common objects in your life, while also practicing how to use the testing tools in your mineral kit. This will help you to fully understand how to test the physical properties of minerals while trying to identify them.

This document is the property of the University System of Georgia and is protected by the USG copyright policy. This document is not to be uploaded to any third-party site. Using this document for anything other than educational purposes among students in this course is a violation of the Academic Integrity policies of this course on behalf of the student and a violation of copyright law on behalf of the third- party site. Description of Objects Select 5 objects from around your house to use for this activity. These must be objects you don’t mind performing physical property tests on, including hardness tests that involves scratching these objects with a nail or against a glass plate. The objects must be of a similar size, though they do not have to be the exact shape or weight of each other. In the space below, write in the objects you have selected and include a picture of the objects. Make sure to size the picture appropriately (pictures should not be full page size) and select the alignment button on the right side of the image when it is selected. Align your images “Top and Bottom” so they do not overlap with text or other images. If you do not have the ability to upload images, then adequately describe your objects. Object 1: Silver kitchen knife Object 2: Versace perfume top Object 3: Small mason jar top Object 4: Old pink notebook Object 5: silver hard picture fame Physical Property: “Crystal Habit” For each of your objects, describe their general shape or “habit”. Is the object cubic or comprised of flat sheets? If it were a mineral crystal, how would you describe its overall shape? Can you describe the object as euhedral, subhedral, or anhedral? You may need to reference your textbook for a comprehensive look at habit. Object 1: euhedral Object 2: subhedral Object 3: Anhedral

This document is the property of the University System of Georgia and is protected by the USG copyright policy. This document is not to be uploaded to any third-party site. Using this document for anything other than educational purposes among students in this course is a violation of the Academic Integrity policies of this course on behalf of the student and a violation of copyright law on behalf of the third- party site. Object 4: Anhedral Object 5: Anhedral Physical Property: Luster For each of your objects, describe whether or not the luster is metallic or nonmetallic. If the luster is nonmetallic, be more descriptive and identify if the luster is glassy, waxy, pearly, earthy, dull, etc. Object 1: metallic Object 2: metallic Object 3: metallic Object 4: non - metallic Object 5: metallic Physical Property: Hardness For each of your objects, perform a hardness test. You will need to look at the Moh’s Hardness scale in your textbook and/or the lectures to determine where your object falls onto the Moh’s scale. You will also need your copper plate, glass plate, and nail from your mineral testing tools. Helpful hint: Be mindful of whether or not your object is scratching something or being rubbed off on something. For instance, your fingernail can’t scratch a glass plate but pieces of your fingernail or residue from your fingernail may be left behind on the glass plate imitating a scratched line. Always rub the glass plate or end of the nail to ensure there is an actual scratch and not just residue left behind. Scratch each of your objects with your fingernail and the nail included in your tool kit and scratch them against the copper plate and glass plate. Using each of these tools and the Moh’s Hardness scale, determine the hardness for each of your objects. If you can’t determine an exact number, describe the relative hardness for each object.

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This document is the property of the University System of Georgia and is protected by the USG copyright policy. This document is not to be uploaded to any third-party site. Using this document for anything other than educational purposes among students in this course is a violation of the Academic Integrity policies of this course on behalf of the student and a violation of copyright law on behalf of the third- party site. Object 1: softer than a fingernail Object 2: softer than a fingernail Object 3: softer than glass harder than nail Object 4: softer than a fingernail Object 5: softer than glass Physical Property: Streak Using the ceramic streak plate included in your mineral tool kit, test each of your objects to see if they have a streak. Do this by rubbing the object across the plate. Bear down enough to get a good test, but not so much you break the plate. Describe whether or not your objects have a streak, and if they do describe it in the space below. Object 1: Light gray streak Object 2: No streak Object 3: white streak Object 4: No streak Object 5: Dark grayish streak Physical Property: Density Remember that density is mass per unit volume and not necessarily the weight of an object. Testing for density is the reason you need objects of a similar size to compare for this assignment: if your objects are of a similar size, then they must have a similar volume and it will be easier for you to determine the mass per unit volume. Pick up each of your objects and consider their mass as you are holding them. Put them in order from least dense to most dense in the space below. Describe why you ordered them the way you did.

This document is the property of the University System of Georgia and is protected by the USG copyright policy. This document is not to be uploaded to any third-party site. Using this document for anything other than educational purposes among students in this course is a violation of the Academic Integrity policies of this course on behalf of the student and a violation of copyright law on behalf of the third- party site. Least Dense Most Dense Knife Versace perfume top Mason jar top Old Notebook Picture frame Physical Property: Cleavage/Fracture Remember from the lecture that cleavage and fracture describe how an object breaks. Fracture describes an irregular breakage, while cleavage describes a particular type of breakage along planes of weakness. Look at each of your objects. If you were to smash each if these objects with a hammer, how would you suspect they would break? Would they break irregularly or along particular planes? Describe whether or not each of your objects has cleavage or fracture and justify your answers. Object 1: 2 cleavage planes not 90 degrees Object 2: No cleavage Object 3: No cleavage Object 4: No cleavage Object 5: 4 cleavage planes at 90 degrees Physical Property: Special Sometimes minerals have special properties unique to them that help in their identification. For each of your objects, describe whether or not there is a special property unique to that object that may set it apart from anything else in your house and helps with the identification of that object. Object 1: elastic Object 2: brittle

This document is the property of the University System of Georgia and is protected by the USG copyright policy. This document is not to be uploaded to any third-party site. Using this document for anything other than educational purposes among students in this course is a violation of the Academic Integrity policies of this course on behalf of the student and a violation of copyright law on behalf of the third- party site. Object 3: elastic Object 4: elastic Object 5: sectile

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Unit 3 Lecture Assignment_Physical Properties MC

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