Mineral Properties Sheets part of Activities
Dave Hirsch, Western Washington University
This activity consists of a set of 69 mineral sheets to be used as part of a term-length set of labs. Each sheet has spaces to write physical and optical properties for each mineral, and a crystal form diagram ...

Introduction to the properties of clay minerals part of Activities
stephen Guggenheim, University of Illinois at Chicago
These laboratory experiments are designed to show the cation exchange capabilities of clays and how these exchanges affect physical properties.

Mafic Mineral Properties and Thin Sections part of Activities
Dexter Perkins, University of North Dakota-Main Campus
Students look at mafic igneous minerals, learning to distinguish and identify them in hand specimen. They also look at a few of the minerals in thin section.

Mineral Classification - What's in a Name? part of Activities
Dexter Perkins, University of North Dakota-Main Campus; Dave Mogk, Montana State University-Bozeman
Students derive their own scheme for identifying and naming minerals. Examples include different minerals that have the same crystal forms, and mineral species that occur with numerous forms and varieties to ...

Crystallization and Melting of Diopside - Anorthite part of Activities
Dexter Perkins, University of North Dakota-Main Campus
This short exercise introduces students to the binary phase diagram in the diopside-anorthite system that contains a eutectic invariant point.

Serpentinite in Subduction Zones: How do we find it, and how common is it? part of MARGINS Data in the Classroom:MARGINS Mini-Lessons
Jeff Ryan, University of South Florida-St. Petersburg
A mineralogical, petrological, and geophysical exploration of the role of serpentinite in subduction zones, as highlighted in the two NSF-MARGINS Subduction Factory focus sites.

Exploring Crystal Structures with XtalDraw part of Activities
Wendy Panero, Ohio State University-Main Campus
This exercise uses publicly available resources to visualize mineral structures in three dimensions on the computer, including symmetry, the use of polyhedral modeling and linking, and the effects of solid ...

Mineral Densities part of Activities
Joseph Smyth, University of Colorado at Boulder
This homework assignment is designed to help students learn about mineral densities and cell edge lengths by having them calculate each.

Properties of Light part of Activities
Joseph Smyth, University of Colorado at Boulder
This problem set tests students understanding of the properties of light, including velocity, frequency, reflection, and refraction.

Coupled Substitutions part of Activities
Joseph Smyth, University of Colorado at Boulder
Students calculate the composition of minerals in weight percent given relative proportions of given end members. Students must also calculate mole percentages for feldspars based on their mineral analyses.

Space Group Symmetry part of Activities
Joseph Smyth, University of Colorado at Boulder
This assignment tasks students with determining symmetry axes and identifying Hermann-Mauguin symbols for space groups based on a symmetry diagram.

Using Excel to Calculate Mineral Chemical Analyses part of Activities
Joseph Smyth, University of Colorado at Boulder
This problem set guides students through making a spreadsheet to calculate mineral chemical analyses from weight percent to atoms per given number of oxygen atoms. This skill will be useful for the major ...

Mineral Classification part of Activities
Joseph Smyth, University of Colorado at Boulder
This homework assignment challenges students to determine the chemical classification of minerals based on their chemical formula. Students must also provide the valences of the various cations for oxygen-bearing ...

Crystallization from Melt Demonstration part of Starting Point-Teaching Entry Level Geoscience:Interactive Lecture Demonstrations:Examples
This demonstration uses melted phenyl salicylate to show how crystals nucleate and grow as the temperature of the liquid melt decreases. -

Back-of-the-Envelope Calculations: Percentage of Copper in Ore part of Quantitative Skills:Activity Collection
Barb Tewksbury, Hamilton College
Question Suppose that you are building a new house. It will take about 90 kg (198 pounds) of copper to do the electrical wiring. In order to get the copper in the first place, someone needs to mine solid rock that ...