Today's activities will focus on the physical properties of minerals and you will use physical properties to identify 11 common rock-forming and ore minerals.
In class you will be using the mineral identification table on p.29 of your manual. We will be identifying: pyrite, magnetite, hematite, galena, quartz, feldspar, hornblende, calcite, biotite, muscovite, and gypsum.
Read through this self-explanatory activity in your manual - you will have a chance to work with mineral samples to learn to identify cleavage planes and work out the number of directions of cleavage that a mineral might have.
Here are the hardnesses (abbreviated H in most mineral tables) of minerals that may be found in toothpaste:
quartz: H = 7 corundum: H = 9
opal: H = 6.5 zircon: H = 7.5
calcite: H = 3 halite: H = 2.5
apatite: H = 5 mica: H = 2-2.5
Moh's Hardness Scale is discussed on p.16 in your manual
Apatite (H = 5) is what the enamel of your teeth is made of.
Here are some links about the ingredients in toothpaste:
Ingredients in Toothpaste: http://sci-toys.com/ingredients/toothpaste.html
Fluoride: http://www.mouthhealthy.org/en/az-topics/f/fluoride
Once you have completed the mineral activities, you will fill out the chart on p.30 with your own observations of the mineral samples you will work with in this lab. These observations will be critical for helping you to identify these minerals when you see them again - seeing the minerals in person is so much better than reading about them or even looking at pictures - be sure not to miss this lab!
If you were not in lab at all, then you will need to familiarize yoursefl with the minerals from this lab before attempting the work sheets. Go to the media center in the library and check out the box of minerals on reserve there (call number WT 8000, I think) or you can go to the library reserve room where another box is on reserve (call number YD9343 pc). You will be responsible for identifying M2, M3, M5, M6, M8, M11, M12, M17, M19A, M21 and M23 (use the table on p.29 and fill out the chart on p.30 - I did not collect this chart, but it will be a good study aid for the mineral quiz). Also, be sure to read through the information about recognizing cleavage in mineral samples (p.17). Eventually you will be quizzed on identifying minerals, approximating hardness, and determining the number of directions of cleavage in a sample.
You are still responsible for completing the worksheets as best you can and turning them in no later than the beginning of class next week. Worksheets collected for this lab will be listed on the Lab Schedule page and must be turned within a week. Click here for the syllabus information about missing class. You have to look at some samples in order to complete the worksheets, I will have the samples available in my office. Look here for my schedule to find out when I am on campus and not in class, then e-mail me to arrange a time look at the samples. Remember, if you do not turn the worksheets, you will receive a zero for them.
Your first quiz is next week on using the density ideas - be sure to look at the quiz info on the class website's Lab Schedule page.
Notes about the worksheets I collected:
p.15, in order to answer #5 and #6, you need to look at a bag of minerals (e-mail me about that). In order to answer #7, you need to have looked at the ingredients in toothpaste. Use your own for that (you will need the box that your toothpaste comes in because the ingredients are not usually listed on the actual tube). So, get a box of toothpaste and look at the questions on p.14 (#3 and #4) - I did not collect p.14, but by answering those questions you will be able to address #7.
p.17, you need the bag of minerals for cleavage in order to do this worksheet - e-mail me to do that.
Mineral Properites/Norms Worksheet: you will need to see samples for #1 & 2; for #3, we practiced the norms some more as follows: blue = paraphrasing, red = pausing, yellow = probing for specificity, green = presuming positive intentions. You will get some credit for question 3 if you remind yourself about what your norm is (based on the color you were assigned in week 1; you can look through the reading from last week) and then discuss how you think you would have done on that norms (and explain why).