Name_________________________

Date________________Period_____

Word Bank

inorganic talc powder rare Rocks valuable

Mineral naturally diamond Quartz crystalline

solid Distributed Moh’s color abundant

Ernesto and his friends were walking through their neighborhood on a Sunday afternoon.

Ernesto saw something shiny and stopped to pick it up. “What is it?” asked one of his friends? “I am not

sure.” said Ernesto. “Maybe it is valuable!” In Ernesto’s earth science class he was learning about

minerals and their contribution to (1)_______________. He remembered that there are four questions

to ask to determine if it is a (2) ________________ and not a rock. First he remembered that all minerals

are not evenly (3)________________around the Earth and so this makes some minerals more

(4)______________ and rare than others. His friends asked, “How can you tell if it is a mineral and not

just some old rock?” “Well”, said Ernesto, “The first question I would ask, is it man made or

(5) ___________ made?” Ernesto and his friends looked carefully at the object in Ernesto’s hand and

said, “It looks natural to me!” Ok, that is one question down, three to go. “Is it a (6) ______________ or

liquid?” “It looks solid to me.” said Ernesto’s friend. “What’s the next question?” “Has this object ever

been alive?” asked Ernesto. “I don’t think so. That makes this item (7) _________________. “That is

three out of four, but I remember from Mrs. Coleman’s class that if any of the four questions has a “no”

answer, then it not a mineral. Let’s answer the last question.” Peering intently at the shiny object in
Ernesto’s hand, the friends noticed several pointy things sticking out of the object. They looked like the

crystal shapes that one of the friends had seen in a video game. “Last question,” said Ernesto excitedly,

“Does it have a (8) _______________ structure or form?” “Is that what those shiny, pointy things are

called?” asked Ernesto’s friend. “Why, yes it is!” Ernesto exclaimed proudly. He was very proud of

himself having remembered the four questions to ask to determine if a sample is a mineral or a rock.

Ernesto’s friends were impressed and wished they had paid more attention in science class too.

Ernesto went on to say that there were other physical characteristics that one could use to identify

exactly what type of mineral it is. He remembered a scale that was used to rate the hardness of a

mineral. “What was that called?” Ernesto thought hard. “Oh yes, it is called the (9) ___________

Hardness Scale. It rates (10) ____________as the softest mineral and (11) _______________ as the

hardest mineral.” “What are some of the other physical features besides hardness we can test?”

inquired his friend. “Let’s see, I believe we talked about (12) ____________, but it is not always the best

indicator because many minerals have the same color. Like gold and iron pyrite. They are both gold

colored, but one has a black (13) ______________ when you rub it across a streak plate and the other

has a gold powder.” “Wow! That is really interesting!” said his friends. They were really impressed with

Ernesto’s knowledge.

“So, what is it?” his friends asked earnestly. Ernesto looked closely at the object in his hand. It

had a rosy, pink, translucent color. He scratched it on a rock and it left a mark, so it was hard. It had

pointy, shiny crystals in it. It certainly appeared to be natural so he looked up from the object in his hand

exclaimed excitedly, “We have found a Rose (14) ____________.” “They are pretty common around

here in Georgia and is one of the most (15) ________________ minerals in the world. Even though it

may not be (16) ________________, because there is a lot of it, it is still beautiful!” Ernesto put the

mineral in his pocket and took it home to add to his mineral collection.
Key

1. Rocks

2. Mineral

3. Distributed

4. Valuable

5. Nature

6. Solid

7. Inorganic

8. Crystalline

9. Mohs

10. Talc

11. Diamond

12. Color

13. Powder

14. Quartz

15. Abundant

16. Rare