Exam 3: Minerals: the Building Blocks of Rocks

What is the chemical structure of all silicate minerals, and why are silicate minerals so important?

A mineral's density is the ratio of its weight relative to the weight of an equal volume of pure water at 4 ° C.

What is the main feature of metallic bonding, and what properties result from this main feature?

What are radioactive isotopes, and why are they important to geologists?

All minerals are compounds.

In what two ways do minerals form from magma? What types of minerals dominate the minerals that make up igneous rocks?

What is the difference between cleavage and fracture?

List at least five rock-forming minerals.

What is meant when minerals are referred to as crystalline?

Give an example of a native element.

Completion The chemical formula KAlSi₃O₈ means that the mineral orthoclase is composed of one atom of K and one of Al for every ____________________ of Si and ____________________ of O.

Why do most minerals, as measured by rock volume, belong to the silicate group?

Cleavage is defined as:

Nearly all types of minerals are beautiful and valuable.

Completion The resistance of the mineral to scratching is established by _______________.

Name one property commonly exhibited by minerals that have van der Waals bonding.

How do a rock and a mineral differ?

Completion The two basic types of luster are ____________________ and ____________________.

What is the basic building block for all silicate minerals?

What is a rock?