Answers:

Calcite

Halite

Sulfur

Quartz

Answers:

As the crystal is growing quick changes in temperature produce a change is crystal orientation.  These can be seen through a microscope as evenly spaced zones.

Provide each stone that is sold with a certificate of synthetication.

The manufacturing process introduces an impurity that can be identified as a bright fluorescent color when exposed to ultra violet radiation.

Each synthetic stone, after being faceted, is identified by a laser engraved mark.

Answers:

It only occurs in one place on the planet.

It contains only one element.

It was produced by organic processes.

Its composition includes carbon.

Answers:

In the formula (CaCO3) for calcite (which makes up the sea shells) the C in the CO3 is not considered organic.

The material of a sea shell is crystalline, has a definite chemical composition and is naturally occurring.  It should be considered a mineral.

The basic concept of sea shells being minerals has been adopted by the scientific community.

An improved definition of mineral was adopted that allowed for organic substances to recrystallize to form minerals.

Answers:

clouds of electrons that bind atoms together.

The weak nuclear force.

magnetic forces that are very strong over short distances, like the distances between atoms.

various types of electrical bonds, like ionic and covalent.

Answers:

Glass is fairly soft and will normally not damage the mineral being tested.

Because clear glass is used in the testing process, a test for hardness can be made on one side of the glass while the observations can be made safely on the other side.

The hardness of normal glass is about 5.5.  That conveniently puts it at about the center of the hardness table.  And glass is a fairly common material.

Actually, it has a fairly restricted use.  It is used to determine if a mineral is a diamond or not.  Diamonds will easily scratch glass.

Answers:

An assumption of hardness can not yet be made.  The powder must be removed to see if a scratch is present in the glass.

The mineral and the glass have the same hardness.

The mineral is softer than the glass.  The mineral crumbled as it was drawn across the glass plate

The mineral is harder than the glass because it scratched the glass.

Answers:

The quartz will be stained brown by iron while the calcite will not.

The quartz will be vitreous while the calcite will have more of a metallic luster.

Upon breaking the specimens the white quartz will have an irregular or conchoidal fracture while the calcite will display cleavage in 3 directions.

It is not possible to distinguish between the two in the field.  Lab tests using acid must be used.

Answers:

To determine the hardness of a mineral.

To determine the luster of a mineral.

To evaluate the composition of the mineral.

To establish the mineral's density.

Answers:

Fracture

Cleavage

Fissility

Atomic Gliding

Answers:

The perforations represent impurities that are incorporated into the crystal during growth.

To have cleavage a mineral must have weak atomic bonds that separate easily.

Minerals often have impurities.  If the impurities are lined up along previous growth faces, it will result in cleavage.

The mineral must consist of a group of tightly bound crystals that were forced together by high pressures.

Answers:

These grains of salt are covalently bonded sodium and chlorine atom, which, if in their elemental form, would be quite poisonous.  But as salt I find they are very useful on popcorn.

 tiny cleavage fragment of the mineral Halite to enhance the flavor.

Answers:

3 very good directions

1 perfect direction and 2 that are fair

2 good directions and 1 very good

3 poor directions

Answers:

The crystal was probably a gemstone and the flash of light is the "fire" produced by internal reflections.

The specimen is displaying conchoidal fracture.

This is a physical property called iridescence.

The flash of light is being produced by many parallel cleavage faces.

Answers:

It is so tightly bound that it does not produce friction when it comes in contact with skin.

It consists of the same compounds that is found in natural soap.

It cleaves very easily just by rubbing it in your hands.

All minerals with a hardness of one will feel greasy or like soap, just because they are so soft.

Answers:

Basically, it shows conchoidal fracture very nicely.   Obsidian is an natural, volcanic glass.  Glass has no zone of weakness or strength, it is amorphous.  When broken it produces fractures that follow the shock waves passing through the rock. 

Minerals do not show conchoidal fractures when broken.

Being black it lends itself better to photography.

Obsidian is very abundant and very cheap.  It is much less expensive to break obsidian than minerals.

Answers:

You have to break the mineral.  If it is quartz, the faces would not repeat themselves.  If it was fluorite the flat surfaces  will repeat (you will have more flat surfaces on the smaller fragments).

Take a close look, crystal faces are more perfect on quartz than on fluorite.

Quartz crystals form cubes and fluorite crystals form with six sides.

You can not.

Answers:

You must produce enough of the powder to collect and dissolve the powder in acid.  Then you must neutralize the acid.  Next  you dry the solution to produce crystals.  Then observe the color of the crystals.

Microscopes are provided for such minerals.

The easiest way would be to rub your finger across the streak plate. Getting some of the powdered mineral on your finger you can see the color easier.

If you can not see it on the white streak plate the color of the streak is white be default.

Answers:

all have cleavage.

are all very dense.

look like metals.

are strongly bonded.

Answers:

waxy

clear

glassy

silky

Answers:

Silver

Graphite

Lead

Coal

Answers:

1.75

4 

1.33

0.75

Answers:

the halite dissolves in water.

the halite has too many pore spaces. Some of the fill up with water.

the balance machine is defective.

the halite is hygroscopic - it absorbs water.

Answers:

dissolve the gold in cyanide.

pull out the black sand with a magnet.

dissolve the black sand in hydrofluoric acid.

trap the gold with a layer of mercury and then bake off the mercury in a hollowed out potato.