Name two different properties or characteristics that you can use to distinguish quartz from calcite.?
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Calcite...my favorite mineral!!! (Calcium carbonate, get it?)\n\nHardness is the most obvious. Calcite is 3 on Moh's scale. Quite soft! and quartz is 7.\n\nA penny, a nail or knife, a glass plate, all will help you separate these two. The quartz will scratch everything there. \n\nOne more test, that I didn't put on your other list that is the best test here, the acid test. A dilute acid will fizz when applied to the calcite, while the quartz will not react at all. This is why all good geologists carry around a bottle of acid in the field. Quartz (sandstone) and calcite (limestone) can be deceptively similar in appearance. \n\nThese two are good examples of why you cannot rely on just color or shape. Both quartz and calcite come in a variety of colors, depending on the impurity, and both can be completely opaque.(Think of rose quartz, milky quartz, amethyst, etc, and realize that calcite has as much variety) Both can be very similar crystal shapes since they are both in the trigonal system. Both have a white streak. Both have a glassy (vitreous) luster. \nCalcite:\nhttp://webmineral.com/data/Calcite.shtml\nQuartz:\nhttp://webmineral.com/data/Quartz.shtml\n\nThere is one more online resource I think you should look at:http://www.mindat.org/\nWebmineral.com is better for the questions you have asked, but mindat.org is very comprehensive and will have photos of more variations of the minerals that might help you understand the challenge of picking which properties are best for which minerals. On a lab test, you may be given samples to test that you have never seen, and they may be minerals you have seen before but in a different form (yes- its a trick), so knowing your tests can save you.\n\nBy the way, I just noticed your question about why color should be used with caution for identifying minerals. I think this answer is a good example of that. Many minerals come in many different colors due to some small impurity in the mineral. Both quartz and calcite come in almost every color of the rainbow. Fluorite is another good example of a mineral that can come in many different colors. Other examples are the many copper compounds which come in various shades of blues and greens. Because there are so many different copper minerals with the same color you can't use the color as a diagnostic for any one of them.
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It's used in the building industry. It is also used in the making of metallurgical flux, fertilizers, fertilizer manufacture and in the chemical industry. Clear calcite crystals were used as prisms. Occasionally rough crystals are used in jewelry or as ornaments. If you have a nice one, you can have it as a mineral collection.
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I believe that Silicon Dioxide is Quartz
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The quartz is a crystal which deforms when an electrical current is introduced. This is the opposite of how a piezo element microphone works; when sound strikes the element ( a crystal similar to quartz) the element deforms and creates an electrical impulse analogous to the vibration caused by the sound.\n\nWhen a steady current is applied to the crystal with the correct feedback circuit, the crystal oscilates at a set frequency. This is in fact how your computer keeps time as well! The entire system (whatever its processor speed is) is governed by a crystal utilizing this exact method.\n\nThe oscilations are then fractioned into larger units of time (since the crystal may oscilate at many millions of vibrations per second) and then coupled to the movement by some type of mechanical transducer.\n\nVery accurate time keeping is created this way.
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I think you can use something called silica crystals! I know my dad us to use it when we were kids! Was great!
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Quartz is the mineral that has the best combination of durability and abundance, so much sand is quartz.  It is hard and common, so it must be a typical component of cement.
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Here is the boring wikipedia answer, there is another specific answer for California beach sand at the end:\n\nSand is an example of a class of materials called granular matter. Sand is a naturally occurring, finely divided rock, comprising particles or granules ranging in size from 0.0625 (or 1/16) to 2 millimeters. An individual particle in this range size is termed a sand grain. The next smaller size class in geology is silt: particles below 0.0625 mm down to 0.004 mm in size. The next larger size class above sand is gravel, with particles ranging from 2 mm up to 64 mm (see grain size for standards in use). Sand feels gritty when rubbed between your fingers (silt feels like flour).\n\n\nThe most common constituent of sand in inland continental settings and non-tropical coastal settings is silica (silicon dioxide), usually in the form of quartz which because of its chemical inertness and considerable hardness is quite resistant to weathering. However, the composition of sand varies according to local rock sources and conditions. The bright white sands found in tropical and subtropical coastal settings are ground-up limestone. Arkose is a sand or sandstone with considerable feldspar content which is derived from the weathering and erosion of a usually nearby granite. Some locations have sands that contain magnetite, chlorite, glauconite, or gypsum. Sands rich in magnetite are dark to black in color, as are sands derived from volcanic basalts. The chlorite-glauconite bearing sands are typically green in color, as are sands derived from basalts (lavas) with a high olivine content. The gypsum sand dunes of the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico are famous for their bright, white color. Sand deposits in some areas contain garnets and other resistant minerals, including some small gemstones.\n\nHere's another specific answer for California:\n\nBeaches vary in color according to the mineral content of the sand, which is also a clue to the origin to the eroded sediments that make up the sand supply. eroded shale cliffs create the charcoal gray beach sand at Shelter Cove in Humboldt County. North of Humboldt Bay, the coarse sands of Agate Beach are multicolored agates that have been ground and polished by the surf. Ground quartz and feldspar mineral make up the white beaches of Carmel, while a few miles to the north in Sand City, amber colored sand indicates the presence of iron mineral. Close inspection reveals that white sand beaches are mosaic of pale quartz grains, pink green or white feldspar and fleck o black mica.
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We are dealing with an illusion caused by grain size and moisture content here.  In fact sand is quite hard because it is made up of individual rock and mineral grains.  Limestone and quartz are pretty hard materials.  If a sand is damp, or has very small rounded grains, it can feel soft to the hand however.\n\nClays on the other hand are soft because they are created by the chemical weathering of other minerals (such as pyroxene or feldspar) and the individual clay units are microscopic in size.  Clays usually contain a high proportion of water in their structure as well (it can be as high as 70%).\n\nWhen a geologist in the field can't make out the whether a rock is a siltstone (clastic) or clay (chemical) because the grain sizes are too small to see, a simple test is to break off a small fragment put it between ones teeth.  If its chewy and soft, its a clay.  If its hard and gritty, its a silt. \n(Warning - experts only folks.  Some rocks contain poisonous minerals so don't go around randomly tasting rocks.)
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Color, shape, hardness, melting point, boiling point, density
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Crystal Silimanite\n \nMolecular Weight (g/mol.) 162.04558 \nApparent Density (g/cm3) 3.24 \nBulk Density (g/cm3) 3.24 \nMelting Point (°F) 3290 \nBoiling Point (°C)   \nSurface Area (m2/g)   \nThermal Conductivity (cal/s-cm-°C)   \nMohs Hardness @20°C 6 - 7 \nSpecific Gravity (g/cc) 3.2 \nParticle Shape   \nScreen Analysis   \nCrystallography orthorhombic \n\n\n\nFrom what i am reading they are the same
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Hardness is typically classified as calcium and magnesium.  The method I propose would demonstrate all of the dissolved solids, as well as the Ca and Mg.\n\nTake a pyrex container, fill it with drinking water, and evaporate the water off by placing it on a hot plate.  This will take awhile if you use too much water, but the 'hardness' will all remain in the container as visible evidence of the solids contained in the water.  \n\nYou can remove the deposited minerals with vinegar, or a stronger acid if you're in a hurry, just be careful.
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Agate & Quartz are both composed of SiO2 or silicon dioxide.\n\nAgate is a cryptocrystalline version of quartz.(very small, as not to be seen with the naked eye, crystals) \n\nAgate is formed in sedimentary deposits from dissolved quartz that is redeposited. This is usually near the surface where there is lower pressure & temperatures.\n\nMany times agate is found as geodes. These are really cool. Sometimes they fill in completely w/ layers of silica. Other minerals may be present as to make color bands. Other times the geode will not fill completely in before crystals start forming. WOW! Love these!\n\nSometimes from the process mentioned above, cryptocrystalline silica will seep into bones & remnants of tree trunks. Ever seen petrified wood? OF course this is not the only mineral that will do this in wood & bones.\n\nOpals are also a variety of quartz. It contains minute amounts of water in its structure. The only difference here is that opals are amorphous meaning that there are no crystals.\n\nSilicon Dioxide is the most abundant mineral in the earth's crust. It is found everywhere and in all kinds of forms.\n\n:)
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If I remember correctly from my science classes, a mineral is essentially a solid substance that has a crystal structure.  (That's two right there - It's solid, and has to be crystal in structure.)  It also has to be inorganic and occurs naturally, and also homogenous.  Not to mention the fact that it's supposed to have a defined chemical composition.  That's more than four characteristics, but I believe them to be all true of minerals....
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Piezoelectricity is the ability of crystals to generate a voltage in response to applied mechanical stress\n\ncertain cristals such quartz
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jasper, opaque, impure cryptocrystalline quartz, usually red, but also yellow, green, and grayish blue. It is used as a gem. Ribbon jasper has the colors in stripes.
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It depends on the rock composition and it depends on the acid strength.  Calcite will bubble with Hydro-chloric acid.
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Some minerals may also be fluorescent under ultraviolet light, that is they absorb UV light and emit in the visible. Other optical properties such as index of refraction and pleochroism (differential light absorption) require an optical microscope to measure.  Certain minerals that display fluorescent properties also display a multicolored effect when having ample illumination with ultraviolet light.