To complete this unit, you will need these common, household items. - Printer Friendly File
- several clear drinking glasses
- food coloring
- water
- a spoon for stirring
- a glass jar
- several pennies or a piece of copper pipe
- your fingernail
- an iron nail
- an unglazed porcelain tile or mineral streak plate
- table salt
- course or rock salt
- a magnifying glass
- a hammer
- colored tape, labels or dots for marking items. Office supply stores carry adhesive, colored dots that work perfectly for this.
- a disposable plastic or paper cup
- epsom salts
- a refrigerator
- paper towels
- orange juice
- a freezer
- a spoon
- a collection of objects, such as coins, bone, teeth, sea shells, wood, nails, cloth, glass, feather, paper, water, salt, pepper, other objects made of different materials
You will also need some mineral specimens to work with. I suggest at least four or five from the following list.
- quartz (crystal, milky, rose, amethyst, citrine)
- calcite
- gypsum
- pyrite
- galena
- hematite
- mica (muscovite, biotite)
- feldspar (plagioclase, orthoclase)
- fluorite
- corundum
You will find suggestions for sources of mineral specimens on the "First you need some specimens" page.