Mineral Project Blog

http://geogallery.si.edu/img/objects/400x400/DMS110300146.jpg

This week I learned a lot about my mineral amazonite. It's colors are blue, green, purple, gray, and multicolored. The luster is vitreous. It's density is 2,56-2,58 g·cm-3.

The chemical composition is KALSiO8 Potassium aluminum silicate. The hardness is 6 - 6.5. No condiuctivity was detected. Streak: white. The cleavage/fracture is conchoidal. The mineral structure is Triclinic.

How much did you know about the subject before we started?

Well, I didn't know very much, but I knew some things. In the summer, my mom would give me a topic to research and I would present that research in a presentation to her at the end of the day. Sometimes the topic was minerals. 

What was especially satisfying to you about either the process or the finished product?
The most satisfying part of the process was that most of the information was easy to get. I worked hard on my project, and even found my mineral! I found it in Idaho. 

What the one thing you particularly want people to notice when they look at your work?
One thing I want people to notice when they look at my work is that I worked hard on it. i made sure that I wrote everything correctly and outlined it with a border. 

What would you change if you had a chance to do this piece over again?
I would change the way I bordered each of the information sections. 

Mastermines

NatCopper.jpg

this week I learned a lot about the tests that scientists use to identify minerals. We were playing a game called Mastermines and I learned all about the tests. We went to different mines and found minerals. Then we brought the minerals back to the lab and identified them. We used luster test, cleavage test, structure test, color test, density, hardness, conductivity, and streak. For the streak, we rubbed the mineral on a porcelain plate and a powdery color came off of it. Diamond was white. On cleavage, we hit the mineral and determined clean break or no clean break. Feldspar had clean break. On density, we measured the weight and volume of the mineral. On the color test, we found out what color they were. Garnet was red-brown. On structure, we found out what the crystal structure of the mineral was. There were triclinic, monoclinic, cubic, hexagonal, and a rectangular one. On hardness, we scratched the mineral with different rocks to determine where it fell on the Moh's hard scale. Borax was a 2. On the luster, we shone a light on the mineral to see if it was vitreous, adamantine, dull, metallic, or pearly. Copper was metallic. For the conductivity, we had to find out how well each mineral could conduct electricity. Borax was an insulator. I also learned how to use the machines at each test.

S&EP: SP2
I used a worksheet to keep track of my data on the mastermines game. We had to keep track of a lot of data. I did some of my project at home.

Element baby book

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Platinum-nugget.jpg

This week we finished up our element baby books. Mine ended up pretty good and I learned that platinum is very rare and its population is 0.003 ppm in the earth's crust. Platinum is also very hard to find and we need it for about one fifth of the things we use. I have a good presentation and worked hard on it. I also learned that Platinum has 78 protons, 117 neutrons, and 78 electrons. It's family name is called the Transition Metals and has four other members.

How much did you know about the subject before we started?

Well, not really anything. I always wanted to know about elements and the periodic table from what my parents said about it but I never really understood anything that they said. It was always about chemistry. But I always was curious about the fact and pictures that my parents showed and tried to teach me. My parents love chemistry! And now, so do I. I really loved the project and I want to do it again. It was so fun!

How do you feel about this piece of work? What parts of it do you particularly like? Dislike? Why? What did/do you enjoy about this piece or work?

I liked how much I learned about the elements and disliked how little time we had to complete it. I absolutley loved the facts that I found but I feel like I could do it a lot better if I had more time. But the project in general was really really fun. 

What grade would you give it? Why?

I would give it an A- because I feel that if I had focused more I could have put in a lot more facts, and good ones too. I just feel that I allowed myself to be distracted in other people's projects and wasn't focused a lot on mine. 

What would you change if you had a chance to do this piece over again?

I would change how focused I am. I could do a lot better if I was very focused.