Minerals and rocks

Belén López belenciencias.blogspot.com.es MINERALS A mineral is a natural, inorganic and solid substance that has a defined chemical composition and an ordered structure. Minerals can be made of one or more chemical elements. Every mineral can be described... Leggi di più

Belén López belenciencias.blogspot.com.es MINERALS A mineral is a natural, inorganic and solid substance that has a defined chemical composition and an ordered structure. Minerals can be made of one or more chemical elements. Every mineral can be described by various physical characteristics. Density: is the mass of the mineral divided by its volume. The denser a mineral is the more compacted their atoms are. Hardness: it defines how much a mineral can resist scratching. The most common way to measure hardness is to use Mohs scale. It is defined by numbers, so a mineral with a higher number scratches those below it. We can also scratch some minerals, like talc and gypsum with our fingernail; using a knife we can also scratch calcite and fluorite. A glass can scratch those four, apatite and feldspar, but glass is scratched by quartz, topaz, corundum and diamond. This scale says that diamond is the hardest mineral while talc is the softer. Cleavage: is related to the way a mineral is bro Leggi meno