Environmental Festival
Mystery Minerals: Classroom Questions
1. Why are minerals important?
2. One of the minerals you examined displays a property called double refraction. What
is the name of this mineral? Give an example of what it is used for.
3. What important metal is extracted from minerals such as magnetite and hematite?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Copper
Lead
Iron
Gold
Environmental Festival
Mystery Minerals: Teacher Answers
1. Why are minerals important?
a. To better understand our world. Minerals are the ingredients that make up
rocks and rocks contain clues about what the Earth was like in the past. By
studying how our planet worked in the past, we can better understand how
they are working today. This helps us understand our effects on the
environment and its potential effects on us.
b. Minerals are the building blocks upon which life and our modern societies
depend. Unless it comes from a plant or animal, most of the things that we use
in our daily life are either made from minerals or produced using mineral
products. The salt that we add to our food is the mineral halite. Antacid tablets
are made from the mineral calcite.
c. It takes many minerals to make something as simple as a wooden pencil. The
"lead" is made from graphite and clay minerals; the brass band is made of
copper and zinc, and the paint that colors it contains pigments and fillers made
from a variety of minerals. A cell phone is made using dozens of different
minerals that are sourced from mines throughout the world.
d. The cars that we drive, the roads that we travel, the buildings that we live in,
and the fertilizers used to produce our food are all made using minerals.
2. One of the minerals you examined displays a property called double refraction. What
is the name of this mineral? Give an example of what it is used for.
a. The mineral is calcite (calcium carbonate). Calcite is the main constituent of
rocks such as limestone and marble. In this form it is widely used in the
construction industry as a building stone and as an ingredient in cement and
concrete. Calcite is also used as a neutralizing agent to treat acidic soils, upset
stomachs, and combat acid mine drainage as a mild abrasive in household
cleaners and in toothpaste as a dietary supplement in animal feeds (and for
people!) as a pigment in whitewash and paint in the chemical industry to make
caustic soda, liquid CO2, and other chemicals to make prisms for microscopes
3. What important metal is extracted from minerals such as magnetite and hematite?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Copper
Lead
Iron – Correct Answer
Gold