UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

KAMPUS SAMARAHAN 2
FACULTY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
EC1104D
IDENTIFICATION OF MINERALS.
NAME

METRIC NO.

NUR HAFIZAN BINTI ASMAIL

2013617608

NUR AMYRA HIDAYAH BINTI AMIRUL

2013224456

NORHAZERAH BINTI YUSSOP

2013251252

ZUBIR BIN SHIBLI

2013651848

MOHAMMAD SYAFIQ AKMAL BIN

ABDULLAH

2013431936

LECTURERS NAME: MADAM NADIA NATASHA

DATE OF SUBMISSION: 12 JANUARY 2015

TITLE OF EXPERIMENT
Identification of minerals.
OBJECTIVES
To identify the types of mineral and its properties.
THEORY OF MINERALS
All minerals can be classified into two main groups based on their chemical composition:
Silicate Minerals.

4
A group of mineral containing SiO as the dominant polyanion. In these minerals the
4
4
SiO 4 cation is always surrounded by 4 oxygen in the form of a tetrahedron. Because Si
and O are the most abundant element in the earth, this is the largest group of minerals and
is divided into subgroups based on the degree of polymerization of the SiO 4 tetrahedra.
The silicates are the largest, the most interesting and most complicated class of mineral by
far which are approximately 40% of all minerals and some geologist estimate that 90% of
the earth crust is made of silicates. Silicates mineral divided into:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.

Quartz group
Feldspar group
Pyroxene group
Amphibole group
Mica group
Miscellaneous groups of silicates such as olivine and clay minerals

Non-silicates Mineral
Non-silicates mineral are minerals that do not contain silica tetrahedrons. These minerals
are generally classified as:
I.
Oxides and hydroxides
II.
Carbonates
III.
Sulphides
IV. Halides
V. Sulphate

EQUIPMENT AND MATERIAL

Mohs hardness scale, fluorescent minerals, magnifying glass, and light.

PROCEDURE
1. The materials are identified through the fluorescent minerals manual.
2. Determine the color of minerals by using the magnifying glass.
3. The streak of the minerals are determined by scratching the minerals to a

surface and examining the powder left behind using the magnifying glass.
4. The lustre and transparency of the minerals are determined by shining the
light to the minerals.
5. The hardness of the minerals is determined by scratching each of the
minerals using the minerals in the mohs hardness scale.
6. The data obtained is tabulated.
DATA
MINERAL NAME

COLOR

STREAK

LUSTRE TRANSPARENCY
Vitreous
Opaque

HARDNESS

6-Selenite rose

Light brown

White

3-calcite

Grey -white

White

Vitreous

Opaque

8-Septarian nodule

Grey-brown
cream

White

Dull

Opaque

2-wernerite

Grey-light
green

White

Metallic

Opaque

7-scheelite

Orange- black

White

Dull

Opaque

5-willemite

Black-green

Brown

Metallic

Opaque

14-aragonite

9-flourite

White

White

Dull

Opaque

White- black
light green

White

Silky

Semitransparency

TABLE 1

DISCUSSION
The color of the minerals is always given in any description of possible choices since it is
the first and most obvious attributes. However, most minerals may exhibit a variety of
colors and a minerals chemical composition may be influence for the color results.
The color of the powder of the mineral is the streak and sometimes the color is entirely
different from their powder. From the table 1, all the streak of the minerals is white except
for willemite which have a brown color.

The degree or appearance in which the surface of the mineral reflects light is lustre. Terms
used to describe luster include metallic, vitreous, resinous, silky and dull. From table 1,
wemerite and willemite are metallic because it is reflected the light, the minerals that
vitreous are selenite rose and calcite because it is like broken glass. Also, the minerals that
has no lustre visible which is dull are septarian nodule, scheelite and aragonite. Lastly is
flourite with silky lustre which is silky shine in fibrous mineral.
The degree of the minerals which is allows light to pass through it called transparency. It is
can be described as opaque, semi-transparent,transparent , and translucent. But, all the
minerals shown an opaque transparency which light is prevented from passing through the
minerals and nothing can be seen through it. However, flourite is semi-transparent that can
allow light to pass partially and objects on the other side are seen hazy through the
mineral.
Hardness is a measure of the resistance to scratching and the hardness of the minerals is
based upon to the standard scale, known as the Mohs Scale of Hardness. The scale
number for selenite rose, calcite, aragonite and flourite are 6 (orthoclase). The minerals
with scale number 7 (quartz) are sectarian nodule and scheelite. Also, wemerite and
willemite are both number 3 (calcite) and number 8 (topaz).

PRECAUTION
1. The minerals should not be scratched too hard when finding the streak, because it may
cause damage to the minerals.
2. The eye must be perpendicular to the magnifying glass to get the exact color of the
streak.
3. The minerals to be tested should be done according to the level of the mohs hardness
scale, so the hardness can be determined.
4. When handling the minerals, care should be taken so that the minerals did not break
because some of the minerals are brittle.
CONCLUSION
A mineral is a naturally occurring inorganic substance with a characteristic chemical
composition and can be identified based on its physical properties that can be observed or
determined by simple tests. In this experiment, the mineral properties used for
identification are color, streak, lustre, transparency and hardness. Then, most minerals may
exhibit a variety of colors, sometime the colors of streak is entirely different from their
powder. Furthermore, each mineral have their own description of lustre, the minerals
hardness that measure based upon to the Mohs Scale and the transparency that only
shown opaque and semi-transparent for this experiment. Although, all the general
characteristics of minerals is help us to understand the identification of minerals, types of
mineral and its properties correctly.

REFERENCE
1. Mdm.NadiaNatashah, Laboratory 1:Identification of minerals, Faculty of Civil
Engineering
2. geology.com/minerals/mohs-hardness-scale.shtml
Tittle: mohs Hardness scale: Testing the Resistance to being scratched.
3. What are mineral, types, properties and examples Retrieved from educationportal.com/academy/lesson/what-are-minerals-types-properties-examples.html on
2nd January 2015

THEORY OF SEDIMENTARY ROCK

Sedimentary rock are formed by deposition and consolidation of new
sediments in layer, over the pre-existing rocks. The new sediments are in fact
eroded away from some old rocks by weathering and then transported by
agents like wind, water, ice, etc. Sedimentary rocks are generally found occur
at or near the Earths surface and cover about 75% on the surface but only
about 5% of Earths crust.
The process that used to describe the chemical, physical and biochemical
changes undergone by sediments after its initial deposition and after
lithification is is known a diagenesis. Weathering is a number of chemical and
mechanical processes that act to break up rocks. Weathering includes
chemical reaction of mineral that initially formed at high temperatures and
pressure at some depth within the Earths crust.
Erosion (by wind and moving water) transports the detrital material away
from its source region to a new location where these new sediments can be
deposited. Lithification is a process of compaction and cementation of
sediments due to additional stress induced from time and filling of void
spaces due to chemical precipitation of groundwater.