ESC 1000: Earth Science 11th & 13th Edition Vocabulary
Chapter 2: Minerals: Building Blocks of Rocks
1. Atom- The smallest particle that exists as an element.
2. Atomic Number- The number of protons in the nucleus of an atom.
3. Carbonates- nonsilicate minerals which do not contain Silicon atoms and are made up of positive metallic ions and the negative ion composed of one carbon and three oxygen atoms.
4. Cleavage- The tendency of a mineral to break along planes of weak bonding when stressed.
5. Chemical Bond – A strong attractive force that exists between atoms in a substance. It involves the transfer or sharing of electrons that allows each atom to attain a full valence shell.
6. Chemical Compound (or compound) - A substance formed by the chemical combination of two or more elements in definite proportions and usually having properties different from those of its constituent elements
7. Color - An optical property used for identification of a mineral which is the most conspicuous characteristic of any mineral, except this diagnostic property has only a few minerals.
8. Covalent bond- the chemical bond produced by sharing of electron pairs.
9. Crystal shape (or Crystal form)- The external appearance of a mineral as determined by its internal arrangement of atoms
10. Density – Important property of matter defined as mass per unit volume.
11. Electron- A negatively charged subatomic particle that has a negligible mass and is found outside an atom’s nucleus
12. Energy levels- Spherically shaped negatively charged zones that surround the nucleus and an atom
13. Element- A substance that cannot be decomposed into simpler substances by ordinary chemical or physical means
14. Feldspar- The most plentiful group of silicate minerals, comprising over 50 percent of Earth’s crust.
15. Fracture- One of four properties used to describe a mineral’s strength which is the property of a mineral that possess chemical bonds that are equally, strong in all directions. They have three categories: irregular, conchoidal, and splintery & fibrous.
16. Habit – term used by mineralogists which refer to the common or characteristic shape of a crystal or aggregate of crystals.
17. Hardness- One of four properties used to describe a mineral’s strength. It is the resistance of a mineral to abrasion or scratching
18. Ionic bond- A chemical bond between two oppositely charged ions formed by the transfer of valence electrons form one atom to the other.
19. Ions- An atom or molecule that possesses an electrical charge (total protons ≠total electrons)
20. Isotope- Varieties of the same element that have different mass numbers; their nuclei contain the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.
21. Luster- An optical property used for identification of a mineral which is the appearance or quality of light reflected from the surface of a mineral
22. Mass number- The number of neutrons and protons in the nucleus of an atom
23. Metallic Bond – A chemical bond present in all metals that may be characterized as an extreme type of electron sharing in which the electrons move freely from one atom to another.
24. Mineral- A naturally occurring, inorganic (ionic) crystalline material with a unique chemical composition
25. Minerology – the study of minerals which are the building blocks of rocks
26. Mineral resource- All discovered and undiscovered deposits of a useful mineral that can be extracted now or at sometime in the future.
27. Mohs hardness scale- A series of 10 minerals used as a standard in determining hardness using a numerical scale ranging from 1 (softest-talc) to 10 (hardest-diamond).
28. Neutron- A subatomic particle found in the nucleus of an atom. The neutron is electrically neutral and has a mass approximately that of a proton
29. Nonrenewable resource- resources that form or accumulate over such long time spans that it must be considered as fixed in total quantity.
30. Nonsilicates- Any one of numerous minerals that have the oxygen and other elements excluding silicon and their basic structure make up only 8% of the Earth’s crust. Some of these include carbonates, halides, oxides, sulfides and pure non-silicon native elements.
31. Nucleus- The small heavy core of an atom that contains all of its positive charge and most of its mass
32. Octet Rule – Atoms combine in order that each may have the electron arrangement of a noble gas, that is the outer energy level contains eight electrons.
33. Opaque - An optical property used for identification of a mineral which is the ability to transmit NO light.
35. Ore deposit – A naturally occurring concentration of one or more metallic minerals that can be extracted economically.
36. Periodic table- The tabular arrangement of the elements according to atomic number
37. Principal shell- the outer most energy level which contains the valence electrons
38. Proton- A positively charged subatomic particle found in the nucleus of an atom
39. Quartz- The second most plentiful group of silicate materials, in the Earth’s continental crust..
40. Radioactive decay- Isotopes of some atoms which have unstable nuclei undergo a spontaneous change in its nuclei because the forces which bind together these nuclei are not strong enough to hold them together.
41. Renewable resource- a resource that is virtually inexhaustible or that can be replenished over relatively short time spans.
42. Reserve- Already identified deposits form which mineral can be extracted profitably
43. Rock- A consolidated mixture of minerals
44. Rock-forming minerals- No more than a few dozen of the 4000 known minerals abundant and makeup most of the rocks of the earth’s crust.
45. Silicate- Any one of numerous minerals that have the oxygen and silicon tetrahedron as their basic structure making up 92% of the Earth’s crust.
46. Silicon-oxygen tetrahedron- A structure composed of four oxygen atoms surrounding a silicon atom that constitutes the basic building block of silicate minerals
47. Specific Gravity – the ratio of a substance’s weight to the weight of an equal volume of water.
48. Streak- An optical property used for identification of a mineral is the color of powdered mineral. It is obtained by rubbing the mineral across a piece of unglazed porcelain and observing the color of the mark it leaves.
49. Tenacity – One of four properties used to describe a mineral’s strength. It is a measure of a mineral’s toughness or resistance to breaking or deforming.
50. Translucent - An optical property used for identification of a mineral which is the ability to transmit light but no image.
51. Transparent - An optical property used for identification of a mineral which is the ability to transmit light and also an image.
52. Valence electrons- The electrons involved in the bonding process; the electrons occupying that highest –principal energy level of an atom