AY Honors/Rocks & Minerals - Advanced/Answer Key

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1. Have the Rocks and Minerals Honor

Template:Ay prerequisite

2. Have a collection of 30 rocks and minerals properly named, 20 of which you have personally collected. Label with collector's name, date and locality in which it was found.

3. Know two minerals that belong to each of the following crystal systems:

a. Isometric

A crystal of Sodium Chloride (common table salt)

The isometric crystal system (or cubic) is a crystal system where the unit cell is in the shape of a cube. This is one of the most common and simplest shapes found in metallic crystals. Isometric crystals include

  1. Sodium Chloride (NaCl, common table salt)
  2. Gallium arsenide (GaAs) is a compound of two elements, Gallium and Arsenic. It is an important semiconductor and is used to make devices such as microwave frequency integrated circuits.
  3. Zirconium dioxide (ZrO2), sometimes known as zirconia, is a white crystalline oxide of zirconium. Single crystals of the cubic phase of zirconia are commonly used as a substitute for diamond in jewelry. Like diamond, cubic zirconia has a cubic crystal structure and a high index of refraction. Discerning a good quality cubic zirconia gem from a diamond is difficult, and most jewellers will have a thermal conductivity tester to identify cubic zircona by its low thermal conductivity (diamond is a very good thermal conductor).
  4. Lead(II) nitrate is a chemical compound, the inorganic salt of nitric acid and lead, with the formula Pb(NO3)2. It is a colorless crystal or white powder and a strong, stable oxidizer.
  5. Copper(I) oxide or cuprous oxide (Cu2O) is an oxide of copper.

b. Hexagonal

Hexagonal crystal

In crystallography, the hexagonal crystal system is one of the 7 lattice point groups (see Hexagonal_lattice). It has the same symmetry as a right prism with a hexagonal base. Hexagonal crystals include:

  1. Graphite, a form of pure carbon, used as a lubricant and as pencil lead.
  2. Apatite is one of few minerals that are produced and used by biological micro-environmental systems. Hydroxylapatite is the major component of tooth enamel.
  3. Quartz is the second most common mineral in the Earth's continental crust. It is made up of a lattice of silica (SiO2) tetrahedra.
  4. Beryl is a gemstone with the chemical formula Be3Al2(SiO3)6. The hexagonal crystals of beryl may be very small or range to several meters in size.

c. Tetragonal

Tetragonal cyrstal

Tetragonal crystal lattices result from stretching a cubic lattice along one of its lattice vectors, so that the cube becomes a rectangular prism with a square base (a by a) and height (c, which is different from a). Tetragonal crystals include:

  1. Wulfenite is a lead molybdate mineral with the formula PbMoO4. It can be most often found as thin tabular crystals with a bright orange-red to yellow-orange color, sometimes brown, although the color can be highly variable. In its yellow form it is sometimes called "yellow lead ore".
  2. Urea is an organic compound of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and hydrogen, with the formula (NH2)2CO. It was the first organic compound to be artificially synthesized from inorganic starting materials.
  3. Zircon is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates. Its chemical name is zirconium silicate and its corresponding chemical formula is ZrSiO4.

4. Know Mohs' scale of hardness and the simplified field tests of hardness. By using these field tests, collect a scale range of specimens from your own region to form your own hardness test set.

5. Do one of the following:

a. Know and tell two different processes by which metals are extracted from ores.

b. Know eight minerals and tell how each is used.

6. Define the following:

a. Crystalline

b. Cryptocrystalline

c. Breccia

d. Noncrystalline

e. Fibrous fracture

f. Vitreous luster

g. Geode

h. Petrification

i. Stalactite

j. Fluorescence

7. What four metals are frequently found in native or free form?

8. Discuss the content of three statements from the writings of Ellen G. White concerning rocks or minerals.

References