Irish Francine Arvesu

STM 14

Earth Science Homework: August 29, 2017

1. What are the characteristics that define a mineral?

Naturally Occurring
All minerals should be naturally occurring, and not man-made.

Inorganic
Minerals are inorganic, meaning they don't belong to any class of organic
compounds.
Solid
Minerals cannot be liquids or gases; they exist only as solids, a state of
matter that possesses a high amount of order.
Definite Chemical Composition
->Each mineral has its own specific combination of atoms that cannot be
found in any other mineral.
Crystalline Structure
Minerals have crystals that contain repeated arrangements of atoms or
ions; each repeating part of a crystal is a unit cell.

2. Which among the following groups, if any, contain silicon: halides,

carbonates, or sulfides?
None of these three contain silicon. Silicon is in the silicate family of
minerals, and they contain silicon oxide as the anionic group. The said
minerals are Non-silicates and they are less abundant in the Earths crust,
but they still have some economic importance.
3. Which is more abundant in the Earths crust: silicates or all the other mineral
groups combined? Explain.
Silicates are more abundant in the Earths crust. Silicon is one of the two
most common elements in the Earths crust. Silicates are categorized
either by their chemical composition or their crystal structures. The most
abundant specific silicates in the Earth's crust are Feldspars (primarily
orthoclase and plagioclase) and Quartz, which together make up 95
percent of the continental crust rocks.

4. What is the difference between a minerals streak and color? Why is streak
more reliable for rock identification?
Color is the observable color of a mineral specimen in natural light, while
Streak is the color of a mineral in powdered form that is obtained by
rubbing it on the surface of an unglazed porcelain and observing the
color of its mark.
Streak is a more reliable property than color because streak does not
vary. Minerals with the same color may have a different colored streak.

5. Differentiate habit and cleavage plane.

Habit can be described as the smooth plane that is formed on the surface
of a crystal. It is where the crystal developments like twinning take place.
On the other hand, cleavage plane can be described as the tendency of
crystals to split along specific structural planes.