I have two questions.

1. Describe what would happen if you rubbed a mineral with a Mohrs hardness value of 7 against a mineral with a value of 5?

2. Which mineral identification test would be easy for a person to perform at home. Which would be difficult.

Thanks

The higher Mohrs value will scratch the lower Mohrs value material.

1. To describe what would happen if you rubbed a mineral with a Mohs hardness value of 7 against a mineral with a value of 5, you need to understand the Mohs scale of mineral hardness. The Mohs scale is a qualitative scale that measures the relative hardness of minerals, with values ranging from 1 (softest) to 10 (hardest).

When you rub a mineral with a higher hardness value against a mineral with a lower value, the mineral with the lower value will be scratched or abraded by the one with the higher value. In this case, if you rub a mineral with a Mohs hardness value of 7 against a mineral with a value of 5, the mineral with a value of 5 will be scratched by the one with a value of 7.

2. Identifying minerals at home can be challenging, but there are some tests that can be relatively easy to perform. One commonly used test is the streak test. To perform this test, you need a piece of unglazed porcelain tile or a streak plate. Simply rub the mineral against the tile or plate, and observe the color of the streak left behind. The color of the streak can help identify the mineral.

On the other hand, some mineral identification tests can be more complex and require specialized equipment, making them difficult to perform at home. For example, determining the specific gravity or conducting chemical tests would require access to a laboratory and specific reagents. Similarly, testing for fluorescence, magnetism, or conducting crystallographic analysis would require specialized tools and expertise, making them more difficult to perform at home.

Overall, the streak test would be relatively easy to perform at home, while other tests would require more advanced resources and knowledge.