minerals are composed of atoms bonded together, whereas rocks are generally composed of aggregates of minerals
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Which of the following is not true about minerals?
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Minerals can be liquid, solid, or glass
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To a geologist, each of the following is why the orderly internal structure of a solid's atoms is used to determine whether the solid is a mineral, except which one?
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Ordered atoms bonded into a structure determine the mineral's composition
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Glass is not a mineral because
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glass lacks an internal atomic structure
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Why aren't synthetic diamonds considered minerals
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Synthetic minerals are not naturally occurring
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All atoms are elements. All atoms of the same element (e.g., oxygen or silicon) have the same number of
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protons
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The atomic number and atomic weight of an atom are determined by which of the following, respectively?
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number of protons, number of protons plus neutrons
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The structure of an atom is
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a nucleus of protons and neutrons and an electron "cloud"
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Isotopes of an element differ by
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number of neutrons
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Atoms that are not neutral are called ions. What happens to change an atom into an ion?
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Electrons are either lost or gained in the atom's outermost energy shell
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The difference between ionic and covalent bonds is
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ionic bonds are when atoms are attracted electrostatically due to positive and negative charges, whereas covalent bonds are when atoms share the same electron(s)
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The difference between covalent and metallic bonds is
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covalent bonds are when atoms share the same electron(s), but metallic bonds are special types of covalent bonds where an electron is shared among several atoms in sequence
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According to the Periodic Table of the Elements, the atomic weight of silicon (Si) is listed as 28.0855. If the atomic weight is supposed to be equal to the total number of protons plus neutrons, why isn't this a whole number?
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The number is the average value of all silicon isotopes, weighted by abundance.
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For an ideal atom, what determines its mass in "atomic mass units" (AMU)? The number of:
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protons plus neutrons
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What makes the two major atomic bond styles different?
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Ionic bonds are "attractive" (electrical), but covalent bonds are "sharing" electrons.
Ionic bonds involve missing and gained electrons, but covalent bonds share electrons between atoms
Ionic bonds are between positively-charged and negatively-charged atoms, but covalent bonds do not involve charges.
All of these.
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Minerals may form a crystal based upon their atomic structure. What controls the atomic structure in a mineral?
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An array of atoms bonded together
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All of the following are factors that determine the atomic structure of a mineral except
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physical properties
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The Crystal shape and atomic structure of the minerals galena (see figure above) and halite are related by which of the following
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hey have the same structure, but by different elements
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Polymorphs are two or more minerals that have the same ______ but different ______.
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chemical composition, atomic structure
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Though both are polymorphs, diamond and graphite are different minerals because of each of the following except
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They have different chemical compositions.
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Galena and halite have the same chemical composition and different crystalline structures.
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False
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What makes one mineral different from another that allows us to distinguish them physically?
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A unique set of physical properties
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What makes one mineral different from another that allows us to distinguish them chemically?
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Distinct crystal structure controlled by bonding.
Distinct pressure and temperature conditions of formation.
Distinct chemistry.
All of these.
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How is a mineral such as quartz physically different from all other minerals based upon the combination of its crystalline structure and chemical composition?
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Every mineral has a unique set of physical properties.
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Which of the following is not a reliable physical property of minerals
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color
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Why are physical properties such as hardness useful to geologists to identify minerals?
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Physical properties are controlled by the mineral's chemical composition and atomic structure, This combination is distinct in each mineral.
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Which of the following is not considered a primary diagnostic property of minerals?
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Magnetism
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What is the difference between a "primary" diagnostic property and a "special" property of a mineral?
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A primary property is one that all minerals possess, whereas a special property is found in only one or a few minerals.
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What controls a mineral's property of hardness
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The strength of the atomic bonds within the mineral
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Why does quartz have a higher hardness than calcite
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Quartz has a higher proportion of covalent bonds than ionic bonds than does calcite.
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What about a mineral would control its property to cleave or fracture?
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The alignment of ionic bonds into planes or not in the atomic structure.
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Most glasses and some minerals (like quartz, shown in the figure) exhibit a type of fracture characterized by nested and curved, cracked surfaces. What term describes this property
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conchoidal
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Which of the following is not a reason why calcite and halite both have the same number of cleavage planes (3), but at different angles
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different conditions of formation
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The Mohs scale of mineral hardness is a relative scale of
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resistance to abrasion (scratching)
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luster
streak B. the color of a mineral in its powdered form B. the color of a mineral in its powdered form
11.3
Incorrect cleavage C. the non-planar manner in which a mineral breaks A. the tendency of a mineral to break along smooth planar surfaces
11.4
Incorrect fracture A. the tendency of a mineral to break along smooth planar surfaces
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D. appearance or quality of reflected light from the surface of a mineral
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Which of the following set of elements account for >98% of the Earth's crust, in descending order of abundance?
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O, Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Na, K, Mg
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If there are nearly 4000 minerals identified to date, why is the crust dominated by only a few dozen "common" minerals
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Most of these minerals include the 5 highest percentage elements found in the crust.
These minerals include the most abundant elements in the crust.
These minerals are "rock-forming" and are found in common rocks.
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Why are silicate minerals the most abundant minerals in the Earth's crust?
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Si and O are the most abundant elements in the crust
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If non-silicate minerals account for only about 8% of the crust, what makes them considered important minerals?
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Many non-silicates have economic importance due to their occurrence as metallic ores.
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All silicate minerals have the same fundamental building block, the SiO4 tetrahedron (see figure). Which of the following is not a way in which this building block makes silicate minerals?
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Bonds into diamond shapes to form minerals like quartz.
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In a silicon-oxygen structural unit, silicon atoms occupy the corners of a tetrahedron. (See figure for question 1.)
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False
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Why does the ratio of Si to O vary from silicate mineral to silicate mineral?
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Each tetrahedron bonded to another tetrahedron does so by sharing an O atom, so the more sharing, the lower the ratio of Si-O.
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Which cations bond most often with Si-O tetrahedral structures in silicate minerals?
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Fe, Mg, Ca, Na
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Many silicate minerals, like olivine and plagioclase, are actually a family of minerals within the silicate mineral group. What about them makes them that way?
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They have nearly identical chemical compositions and identical physical properties.
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As shown in the figure, different silicate minerals are grouped based upon how Si-O tetrahedra bond. In this grouping scheme, three-dimensional network silicate minerals have either no cleavage (quartz) or two planes of cleavage at 90 degrees (feldspar). What causes this difference within the same silicate group?
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Unlike quartz, the feldspars have Al and some combination of Na, Ca, and K in their atomic structure, allowing cleavage.
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The study of a silicate mineral's atomic structure and chemical composition permits geologists to draw inferences upon which of the following?
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The environment in which it was formed.
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Why are "light" silicates much less dense than the "dark" silicates?
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They do not have Fe or Mg in them
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Each mineral in the feldspar group is very similar to each other in terms of physical properties. What is the only reliable visible difference between potassium feldspar and plagioclase?
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Plagioclase has characteristic "striations."
Other than that, they can look identical, and they have the same physical properties.
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Muscovite and biotite are in the same silicate mineral group due to their extreme similarity (the micas; sheet silicates). What is the only significant difference between them?
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The mineral's major cations.
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What minerals form by the breakdown and weathering of rock-forming silicate minerals and are important constituents of soils?
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clays
kaolinite
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Why are the non-silicate minerals subdivided into classes based upon anion or anion complex that the members have in common
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Minerals in each class have similar properties
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Non-silicate minerals (including gold and pyrite) make up only about 8% of the crust. However, they tend to be economically important minerals. Which of the following is not a reason why these minerals are economically important?
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These minerals are widespread in the crust, but occur mostly in sedimentary rocks.
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What is the special property that allows one to identify calcite versus dolomite, the very similar carbonate minerals
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Calcite effervesces (fizzes) readily when HCl is applied.
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What likely environment is implied by the presence of halite or gypsum in a sedimentary rock terrain
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An evaporated lake
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