This presentation describes the six crystal systems used for classifying minerals. Each of the systems is represented by a diagram showing the angles and proportions of the crystallographic axes, a physical model showing the possible arrangements of faces and one or more photos of actual specimens displaying the described symmetry and some possible modifications. Full description.

This is the web page for an Optical Mineralogy course offered at Brock University. The link to lecture outlines includes information on the properties of light, including electromagnetic radiation, wave front, phase and interference, reflection and refraction and the polarization of light. Other sections include: Refractometry, which includes information on lens effect, internal reflection, and becke ... Full description.

This website contains a set of lessons on mineral identification. Upon completing this exercise, the student will be able to identify many of the common minerals by using the following physical properties: color, streak, luster, cleavage/fracture, hardness, crystal shape, and specific gravity. Teachers will need sets of minerals and some tools for students to work with. Links are available for growing ... Full description.

Minfile contains geological, location and economic information on over 12,000 metallic, industrial mineral and coal mines, deposits and occurrences in British Columbia, Canada. This website can be used to find information on documented mineralization anywhere in British Columbia, to develop exploration strategies, for geoscience research, to evaluate the resource potential of an area, or for land-use ... Full description.

In this activity, students will discover that minerals have specific characteristics that help to identify them. They will learn that minerals are formed by inorganic processes, are crystalline solids with an internal orderly arrangement of atoms, have specific chemical compositions, and have specific physical and chemical characteristics. They will also learn that minerals are commonly identified ... Full description.

This database contains worldwide information on minerals, mineral localities and other mineralogical information. In part supported by advertising, it stores data on 25,000 different minerals, varieties and synonyms listed with over 4,000 valid mineral and mineraloid names. The database is searchable by name, properties, chemistry and locality. Many photographs and some maps are provided. Information ... Full description.

This site contains 93 mineral photographs. It consists of a list containing the item number, mineral name and type of image. Users can click on the mineral name to view a good-sized picture, or on JPEG to view a larger image. Some minerals have more than one photograph in order to show different crystal shapes. Full description.

This web site provides interactive quizzes on minerals and mineralogy. Users can select quiz type (multiple choice or fill in the blank), as well as subject type. The subjects covered in this quiz include native metals and sulfides, oxides and hydroxides, evaporites including carbonates, phosphates, and halides, simple silicates including neosilicates, garnets, and alumino-silicates, soro/cyclo-/inosilicates, ... Full description.

This activity is concerned with crystals, the basic building units that make up rocks and minerals. Students construct a model of the silicon-oxygen tetrahedron and discover that the smallest whole unit that could form a unique crystal is called a unit cell. They learn that a unit cell would have all the properties of a large crystal such as a diamond, but would be only molecular size (submicroscopic). ... Full description.

These activities are aimed at simulating metamorphic rock formation, and explain how increased pressure and heat affect such formation. The first activity, which can also be performed as a teacher demonstration, simulates the idea of contact metamorphism by investigating the effect of heat from a beaker of hot water on egg white. The other two laboratory activities simulate the formation of slate ... Full description.