This exercise is designed for a sophomore to junior level required course in petrology.

Students should know how to use Excel and have a basic understanding of mineralogy (e.g. unit cells) and chemistry.

This is a stand-alone exercise.

The problem set helps students gain experience with a spreadsheet, manipulate and use quantitative chemical data, investigate the structure of mineral formulas, and see an application of phase equilibria in petrology.

This exercise involves analyzing data.

This problem set involves writing and may involve working with Excel.

This exercise provides students the opportunity to work with real microprobe data to perform a series of common calculations. It also provides a brief glimpse into a high-pressure experiment. (I hope to expand this opportunity in the future via web activities...stay tuned.) The exercise can be used as a laboratory activity or a problem set. It is ideally suited for the use of a spreadsheet like Excel, but can be completed by hand. This is a great opportunity for students who are unfamiliar with spreadsheets to get their feet wet. For me, trial by fire is the best way to learn a new software program.
The exercise could be used in any undergraduate petrology or mineralogy course and assumes only a general background in mineral chemistry. The goals are for students to: 1) work with real data from an experiment, 2) learn/remind themselves of the relationship between chemistry and
crystal structure as displayed in mineral formula, 3) use a geothermometer to see how phase equilibria can be used to decipher physical properties of rocks.
The exercises include:
- Mineral formula recalculation
- Unit cell content calculation
- Calculating end-member percentage
- Plotting data on a ternary plot
- Geothermometer calculation
The exercise could easily be modified to include other "pet" analyses or questions.

Students have met the goals of this exercise if they answer the problem set completely and accurately.