What is the relationship between minerals and rocks?
AMinerals and rocks are the same thing
BMinerals are the building blocks that make up rocks -- a rock is made of one or more minerals
CRocks are the building blocks that make up minerals
DMinerals are found only in water, not in rocks
Minerals are individual natural substances, each with its own chemical makeup and crystal structure. Rocks are made of one or more minerals combined together. Think of it like baking: minerals are the ingredients (flour, sugar, eggs) and rocks are the finished products (cake, bread, cookies). Different combinations of mineral ingredients make different types of rocks.
Question 2 True / False
Most minerals are rare and valuable like diamonds and gold.
TTrue
FFalse
Answer: False
While some minerals like diamonds and gold are rare, many minerals are extremely common. Quartz and feldspar together make up about 75% of Earth's crust. Calcite is found in limestone, chalk, and marble all over the world. Most of the ground beneath your feet is made of very common, everyday minerals.
Question 3 Short Answer
If you look closely at a piece of granite with a magnifying glass, what would you see, and what does it tell you?
Think about your answer, then reveal below.
Model answer: You would see grains of different colors and textures -- clear or white quartz, pink or gray feldspar, and shiny flakes of mica. This tells you that granite is not one substance but a mixture of several different minerals that formed together when magma cooled slowly underground.
Granite is an ideal rock for illustrating the mineral-rock relationship because its minerals are large enough to see with the naked eye. Each colored grain is a different mineral, and together they make the rock.