Concept_of_a_Mineral_Worksheet
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School
South Texas College *
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Course
GEOL-140
Subject
Geology
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
Pages
2
Uploaded by MinisterButterfly15685
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Physical Geology
Activity
Concept of a Mineral Worksheet
Objectives:
The student will be able to:
1.
recognize the properties that are ascribed to a mineral as the term is used in geology.
2.
evaluate the characteristics of common substances and determine which of these have properties
allowing it to be classed as a mineral (in the geologic sense).
Instructions:
Determine whether the following common substances meets the criteria required to classify it as a mineral by
entering a "yes" or "no" in each column.
If each of the first five column
s contains a “yes”, then
the substance is a
mineral.
Read the entire lab before starting the lab!
It is easiest to finish one column before moving on to the next
column.
There are 7 minerals.
Substance
Solid?
Inorganic?
Naturally
Occurring?
Definite
Chemical
Composition?
Ordered Atomic
Arrangement?
Mineral?
1
amber
2
ammonia
3
baking soda
4
bronze
5
calcite
6
cardboard
7
coal
8
copper
9
dirt
10
ice
11
methane
12
oil
13
rust
14
salt
15
sand
16
sapphire
17
sugar
18
teeth
19
water
20
wax
Hints:
Solid:
There are three states of matter on the Earth: solids, liquids, and gasses.
If the substance is a liquid or gas,
write “no” in the column, and everything else should be a solid, so write “yes”.
Inorganic:
Inorganic means “not organic”.
If the substance is or was a part of a plant or animal, write “no” in the
column, and everything else should be inorganic, so write “yes”.
Naturally Occurring:
Naturally occurring means that the substance was created by nature.
If the substance is
only manufactured by people, then w
rite “no”.
If the substance
is naturally occurring or we have done a small
amount of processing, then write “yes”.
If we have done a lot of processing to the substance so that the original
material does not look or have similar properties to the processe
d material, then write “no”.
Definite Chemical Composition:
If the substance has a chemical formula or is always composed of the same
chemical elements
in fairly specific proportions, then write “yes”.
If the substance is a mixture (e.g. a slice of
pizza
) or is never consistent, the write “no”.
If you read the substance name and ask yourself “Which Kind?”,
then there is more than one type, and they will be different, then write “no”.
Ordered Atomic Arrangement
:
Ordered atomic arrangement means that the atoms are arranged is a set pattern,
and they cannot move from their set position.
If the substance is a liquid or gas (the atoms move in these
substances), then write “no”.
If under Solid, the answer is “yes”, and under
Definite Chemical Composition, the
answer is “no”, Ordered Atomic Arrangement would be “no”.
If under Solid, the answer is “yes”, and under
Definite Chemical Composition
, the answer is “yes”, Ordered Atomic Arrangement would be “yes”.
Questions:
Answer the following questions as completely as possible.
1.
Are all solid materials minerals?
Why or why not?
2.
Can two samples that have different sets of chemical elements be the same mineral?
Why or why not?
3.
Can two samples that have different atomic arrangements be the same mineral?
Why or why not?
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