| A | B |
|---|
| mineral | a naturally occuring inorganic solid that has a crystal structure and a definite chemical composition |
| inorganic | not formed from living things or the remains of living things |
| crystal | a solid in which the atoms are arranged in a pattern that repeats again and again |
| element | a substance composed of a single kind of atom |
| compound | a substance in wh ich two or more elements are chemically joined |
| Mohs hardness scale | a scale ranking ten minerals from softest to hardest: used in testing the hardness of minerals |
| streak | the color of a mineral's powder |
| luster | the way a mineral reflects light from its surface |
| cleavage | a mineral's ability to split easily along flat surfaces |
| fracture | the way a mineral looks when it breaks apart in an irregular way |
| solution | a mixture in which one substance is dissolved in another |
| vein | a narrow slab of a mineral that is sharply different from the surrounding rock |
