Student Exploration: Mineral Identification

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Vocabulary: crystal, density, hardness, homogeneous, luster, mass, mineral, streak, volume Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.) 1. Suppose you find a yellow piece of metal in... a stream. How could you tell if it is real gold? The real gold would not be magnetic, while fake gold would be. 2. In the city a street peddler offers to sell you a diamond ring for thirty bucks. How could you test if the rock in the ring is a real diamond? The diamond would not be able to be scratched by a simple material. Gizmo Warm-up: Determining density A mineral is a naturally formed crystal. You can identify a mineral by its properties. In the Mineral Identification GizmoTM, under Choose property to test, select Density. 1. Mass is the amount of substance in an object. Drag the mineral sample onto the balance. What is the mass of the mineral? 36.4g (Units are grams, g.) 2. Volume is the amount of space an object takes up. The volume is measured by how much the water rises in a graduated cylinder. Drag the mineral into the cylinder. What is the volume of the mineral? _14 mL (Units are milliliters, or mL.) 3. Density is a measure of how “light” or “heavy” an object is for its size. To find the density of an object, divide the mass by the volume. (Calculators are recommended.) What is the density of the mineral? 2.6 g/mL (Units are grams per milliliter, g/mL.) [Show More]

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