Minerals Lab essays

Minerals Lab essays 1. The rate of cooling definitely affects the size of crystals. The crystals that formed on ice formed much faster, and the crystals seemed much smaller. The crystals that cooled on the lab bench cooled much slower, but they appeared much larger. It was hard to identify individual crystals, but the thin rays extending from the centers were much longer in the sample that cooled on the bench, and much shorter in the sample that cooled on ice. 3. Adding seed crystals does slightly affect the crystallization process. The saturated solution with seed crystals began the crystal formation and finished the crystal formation several seconds before the solution without seed crystals. The seed crystals provide a place for the saturated solution to crystallize on. However, if seed crystals are not present, the saturated solution will still be able to find something to crystallize on, such as an impurity in the solution, a rough spot on the plate, or a piece of magnesium sulfate that has not yet been dissolved. However, crystallizing on a something other than a seed crystal will make the crystallization process slower. 1. The unknown crystal shape appears to be isometric (cubic), and we identified the crystal as being sodium chloride (NaCl). 1. Based on my observations of the four crystals under plane polarized and cross polarized light, I conclude that number 1 is quartz, number 2 is hornblende, number 3 is garnet, and number 4 is olivine. 2. Yes, we have found a potentially valuable mineral. Magnetite can be used for many purposes, including the extraction of iron ore. It is also naturally magnetic, and so can be used for magnetic therapy and in various pieces of machinery. However, the cost of mining it from the ocean floor could be quite high, and so its commercial applications may not be feasible. ...