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MINERAL MASTERY Mineral Identification Software Program Documentation Unregistered Shareware copy This is a Shareware copy of the program and is not the most current version. A registered copy will contain any new enhancements and fixes plus the documentation with actual screen displays. Copyright 1989, Thomas Gleason All Rights Reserved DataWave Software P.O. Box 42213 Mesa, AZ 85274 (602) 820-8041 REGISTRATION Mineral Mastery is not free or public domain software. You may distribute copies of Mineral Mastery for the purpose of letting others evaluate it. Non-profit user groups and BBS operators may make it available to their members. Unregistered copies of the program are intended for personal evaluation and not for extended use in commercial or educational facilities. The registration fee is $39 for individual copies. There is also a low-cost site license price. Registration includes a bound printed manual, user submitted lessons, latest disks, update notices, telephone technical help. There's a registration form on one of your disks (register.prt). If you use the program, please register. Table of Contents INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 INSTALLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 GETTING STARTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 SETUP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 INQUIRY MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 MINERAL MATCHES SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 F7:Graphs 7 F9:Paste 7 LESSON MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 GLOSSARY MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 SYSTEM MENU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 MINERAL CATEGORIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 CREATING INQUIRIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 invalid inquiry 15 How to build an Inquiry 15 Examples of Inquiries 17 Assist with Inquiry 19 EXAMPLE: Doing an Inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 MINERAL KITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 APPENDIX A: Mineral List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 APPENDIX B: Editor commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 APPENDIX C: Mineral Identification/Terminology . . . . . . 31 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 INTRODUCTION Mineral Mastery brings the computer's power and convenience to the desk top for the hobbyist and college level geology student. It offers you the means to identify over 200 mineral species by making inquiries of its information base. Mineral Mastery displays the physical properties of various minerals with text and graphs. You can use the program to look up information or to research ideas and relationships. Get answers to questions like: What minerals have a black streak and metallic luster? What minerals contain gold or silver - or both? What is this heavy, orange colored and translucent specimen? What is the relative rarity of opal? Simple or complex searches can be performed. Enter the known facts about a specimen into the computer and quickly receive a list of matches. The charts and tables used formerly to cross reference physical characteristics are not necessary. You focus on what you know about a mineral and are not held back by what you don't know. In addition, the inquiry process used by Mineral Mastery encourages experimentation and independent thinking. At any point in the program you have access to a pop-up notepad with full word processing features. You can paste the results of searches into the notepad and print them out for later study. Mineral Mastery includes instructional features which allow the program to be an adjunct to a standard geology curriculum. It includes an online glossary of mineralogy terms, the ability to create lessons, and give hints during the identification process. Online help abounds. There are two versions of Mineral Mastery provided, 'Advanced' and 'Introductory'. The Intro version is designed for students in entry level geology classes and has information on about 50 minerals. The advanced version is comprised of 200+ minerals and is geared toward the mineralogy student and hobbyist. Although the manual is not a tutorial on mineral identification, a beginner's knowledge of the subject is all that's needed to effectively use the program. 3 INSTALLATION Mineral Mastery requires 512K of memory. The software will configure automatically to work with either a color or monochrome monitor. A graphics card is not required. Thus, the program can run on almost any computer system including portables used in field work. See the file README.DOC (B> type readme.doc) for any additions to the documentation. Make backup copies of your disks before installing the software. Your system's CONFIG.SYS file must increase the default DOS values for Files and Buffers. The default values are simply too low for many programs. Otherwise, you may get a message stating 'Internal Error' when trying to display a graph. The following commands/values are recommended: files=20 buffers=8 The program may not work properly if memory resident programs are active. Mineral Mastery comes installed for a two disk drive system. To use a hard disk or 3.5 inch disk, copy all the files on both disks to the other media. A hard disk is highly recommended because searches and graphing activity are performed much faster. To copy the files to a subdirectory on your hard disk: C> md \mineral ;creates a new directory C> cd \mineral ;move to the directory C> copy a:*.* c:\mineral ;copy files from drive A to C GETTING STARTED To run the program type MM and press the Enter key. The PROGRAM disk must be in drive A and the DATA disk in drive B if running from floppies. You must be in the Mineral Mastery directory if using a hard disk. C> cd \mineral SETUP If you've copied the files to a 3.5 inch disk or a hard disk drive, the first time you try to run the program it won't be able to locate the data. You'll be placed directly into SETUP. (Setup is also accessed by selecting Setup from the System menu.) Select the correct disk drive where the Mineral Mastery databases reside. This will usually be drive C: for a hard disk, drive B: for a two floppy system, and either A: or B: for a 3.5 inch disk. Move the light bar with the up/down arrow keys to the correct drive letter and press Enter. Here you may also select either the Advanced(200+ mineral) or Introductory(50 mineral) level of the program. You might be told to restart the program to activate the changes. 4 USING MINERAL MASTERY Most of Mineral Mastery's features are accessed from menus. In most instances, to exit a screen just press ESC. An electronic notepad is always available to take notes while examining minerals. Just press the F10 function key. The notepad has word wrap and editing capabilities. Press F2 while in the notepad to get a help screen. Many of the editing commands are preceded by the carat '^' character. This stands for the Ctrl key. Hold down the Ctrl key and press the designated letter. See Appendix B for more information on using the editor. Appendix C has additional information on mineral terminology and identifying specimens. The results of searches can also be pasted to the notepad and printed out. New text typed within the notepad is not saved unless you press ^W (Ctrl key and W). Typing text and then exiting by pressing the ESC key causes the program to ask "Abort Edit (Y/N)" to confirm your intent. Press the Y or N key. ___________________ MINERAL MASTERY ____________________ Inquiry Lesson Glossary System ________________________________________________________ ---------------------Notepad---------------------- | | | Keep your brilliant thoughts here! | | | | | | | | | | | | | ---Esc:exit/no save ----^W:save ----F2:help------- [simulated notepad screen] . There are four menus across the top of the main screen. They are Inquiry, Lesson, Glossary, System. 5 THE INQUIRY MENU _________________________ MINERAL MASTERY ____________________ Inquiry Lesson Glossary System ______________________________________________________________ View Mineral List Build a new Inquiry Edit Inquiry Clear Inquiry View Mineral List: Press ENTER and this selection takes you to the Mineral Matches screen shown below. Minerals are loaded into the computer that match the defined Inquiry. If no inquiry has been defined, all the minerals are retrieved. Build a New Inquiry: Allows you to create an inquiry. This is described in the section CREATING INQUIRIES. Edit Inquiry: Edit/Change an existing inquiry by editing your inquiry statements. Use the cursor keys to maneuver along the inquiry text and make changes. Press the INS key on the keypad to toggle between insert and overwrite modes. Clear Inquiry: Erase all previous inquiry statements and use all minerals in the system. The MINERAL MATCHES SCREEN, shown below, is accessed by pressing ENTER on "View Mineral List" from the INQUIRY menu or by making an inquiry. Use the cursor keys to move the light bar up or down. Move to any mineral on the list by simply pressing the first letter of a mineral's name. Pressing 'g' will place the light bar on the first mineral name beginning with that letter. Press ENTER and the information on the highlighted mineral is retrieved. The light bar will turn off. The Notes box in the lower right portion of the screen is a scrolling region. This box gives additional information on the mineral. Use the Page Up, Page Down keys to reveal more text. Press ESC to return to the mineral list on the left. Press ESC again to return to the main screen. 6 _______________________ Mineral Matches ____________________ ------------- ----------[Actinolite]---------------- actinolite FORMULA ..... Ca2(Mg,Fe)5Si8O2 2(OH)2 adamite SPEC GRAV ... 2.9 - 3.2 aegirite HARDNESS .... 5.0 - 6.0 albite COLOR ....... green,white,grey allanite STREAK ...... white alunite CRYSTAL ..... monoclinic amblygonite CLEAVAGE .... 2 perfect anaclime FRACTURE .... uneven anatase TRANSPRNCY .. opaque andalusite LUSTER ...... vitreous andesine HABIT: prismatic, radiating, fibrous anhydrite ........................................ anorthite Commonly occurs in the crystalline antimony schists, being often the chief (cont'd) apatite ........................................ __Matches: 210 __F1:Help__F7:Graphs__F9:Paste__ F10:Notepad__ The status line at the bottom of the screen offers additional information. The 'F' options refer to function keys that may be pressed. Matches: The number of minerals on the list or matching an Inquiry. F1:Help: A pop-up window explaining options at this screen. F7:Graphs: The first 25 matches can be sorted and graphed by: Specific Gravity Hardness Best Cleavage Rarity Graph displays can be printed by pressing the Shift and Print Screen keys simultaneously. F9:Paste: Pastes into the notepad the current inquiry statements and the data on minerals in the match list. ┌─────[ Paste to Notepad ]──────┐ │ Current mineral information │ │ List of all mineral matches │ │ All matches and information │ └───────────────────────────────┘ Current Mineral Information Pastes the data on the currently displayed mineral into the notepad. List of all mineral matches Pastes to the notepad the list of mineral names currently active at the match screen. All matches and information Pastes data on all the matches into the notepad up to a maximum of about 25 minerals. 7 After selecting one of the above Paste choices, you can open the notepad and see that the selected information has been transferred. Pasting creates a record of your inquiries which can be shown to the instructor or used as a basis for further research. The notepad text can be saved to a separate file. Select 'Go to DOS' from the system menu. Copy the notepad to a new file B> copy notepad.txt savfile.txt To print a text file (or lesson) from DOS: B> copy filename.ext prn Type EXIT to return to Mineral Mastery Below is an example of a Specific Gravity graph. An inquiry has found a number of matching minerals. 8 | # | # # 7 | # # | # # A) atacamite 3.8 6 | # # B) anatase 3.9 | # # C) siderite 3.9 5 | # # D) sphalerite 4.2 | # # # # E) goethite 4.4 4 | # # # # # # # # F) manganite 4.4 | # # # # # # # # # # # G) covellite 4.6 3 | # # # # # # # # # # # H) stibnite 4.7 | # # # # # # # # # # # I) pyrolusite 4.8 2 | # # # # # # # # # # # J) ferberite 7.5 | # # # # # # # # # # # K) iron 7.9 1 |____________________________________ A B C D E F G H I J K S P E C I F I C G R A V I T Y 8 THE LESSON MENU _________________________ MINERAL MASTERY ____________________ Inquiry Lesson Glossary System ______________________________________________________________ Read a New Lesson Read Current Lesson Hint Answer Create/Edit Lesson Press ENTER to activate a lesson menu selection. Some menu items will not be selectable if a lesson hasn't yet been read or hints and an answer were not part of the selected lesson. Read a New Lesson: This selection presents a list of lesson file names. Select a highlighted file by pressing ENTER and its text will appear in a scrolling area. Only files with a '.les' extension will appear as choices in the menu. Press ESC to return to the lesson menu. Re-read a lesson: Read again the active lesson. Hint: If the instructor has placed hints in the lesson, they will be shown in a pop-up box in sequence each time HINT is selected. Answer: If the instructor has included the answer in the lesson, it will be revealed by selecting Answer. Create a Lesson: Select an existing file to edit or select 'NEW FILE' to create a new lesson. If you select a new file, enter a filename of your making but you must give it a '.les' extension in order for it to appear as a choice under 'Read a new Lesson'. Upon entering a filename you are placed in a word processor; press F2 to see a help menu of editing commands. See Appendix B for an explanation of the word processor commands. The carat ^ character appearing before a keyboard choice in the help menu refers to the Ctrl (control) key. This means hold down the Ctrl key and press the key following the ^. Lessons can also be created with any word processor you prefer. Simply save your lesson as a DOS text file and with the '.les' extension. Make sure the number of characters per line is less than 75 to insure proper word wrapping. 9 Hints and the Answer are placed at the end of the lesson text. Up to 10 one line hints can be included. The answer, if you choose to provide it, must go after all the hints. Precede each hint with the carat '^' character (Shift-6 on most keyboards). Precede the answer with a '@' (Shift-2). The ^ and @ characters may not be used anywhere else in the lesson text. The student will not see the hints or answer when reading the lesson. Here's a sample lesson with 2 Hints and the Answer: Les21 Mineral 21 in your lab tray was discovered by a former student while in Burma. Its physical characteristics are well defined and should be fairly easy to identify. Name the mineral. Enter into the electronic notepad the steps you followed to identify it. ^ Hint 1: It's non-metallic, with a vitreous luster. ^ Hint 2: The hardness is greater than 8. @ The answer was CORUNDUM There is no limit on the length of a lesson. A sample lesson is provided on your disk titled LES1.LES. It also includes several hints. Select 'Read a Lesson' to read it. Press ESC to get back to the main screen and then press 'Hint'. GLOSSARY MENU Look up words from the glossary or element names based on their abbreviations. Within a list, press a letter key to go to items beginning with that letter or use the cursor keys to navigate. _________________________ MINERAL MASTERY ____________________ Inquiry Lesson Glossary System ______________________________________________________________ Look up a Word Element List --------------- | alteration | | amorphous | | bedding | | botryoidal | | (cont'd) | --------------- --[ Amorphous ]---------------------------------------- | 'Without form'. The term is applied to rocks and | | minerals that lack definite crystal structure. | | | ----------------------[ PgUp PgDn Esc to Menu ]--- 10 SYSTEM MENU _________________________ MINERAL MASTERY ____________________ Inquiry Lesson Glossary System ______________________________________________________________ Clear Notes Print Notes Go to DOS Quit Pgm Setup Clear Notes: Erases any text in the notepad. Print Notes: Prints the contents of the notepad. Go to DOS: Allows you to temporarily leave the program and places you at the DOS prompt. Providing your machine has enough memory, you can run other programs, view files etc. Type EXIT and you return back to Mineral Mastery. On two disk systems, DOS must be installed on the same disk as the Mineral Mastery program. On a hard disk, the PATH command must include the DOS directory. This feature may not work if memory resident programs are active. Quit Pgm: Completely quits the program. The Notepad is saved to disk and an orderly shutdown occurs. Setup: Allows you to tell the program on what disk drive the database files are located(.dbf files). Also, you may select either the Advanced or Introductory version of the program. See section SETUP earlier in the manual for more information. MINERAL CATEGORIES Information about the minerals is listed by CATEGORY. Each category contains information on a distinct physical attribute of the mineral. Example: The COLOR category of the mineral HEMATITE contains 'red,red-brown'. Appendix C has additional information on each category. The categories of specific gravity, hardness, and rarity hold numeric values, the rest are text. A mineral can have several possible colors, streaks, and transparencies etc. To identify an unknown mineral we build an Inquiry Statement (a set of search conditions) based on the choices for each category and ask Mineral Mastery to show us a list of minerals matching those conditions. The more specific the inquiry statements, the smaller the list of resulting matches. 11 Here are the Categories for each mineral. This information is also provided in a pop-up help screen within the program. CATEGORY DEFINITION/CHOICES FORMULA The chemical formula of a mineral. CHOICES: The complete or partial formula. Example: NaCl; Au, Pb, CaCO3, MINERAL The mineral's name. CHOICES: The complete or partial name of a mineral. Example: bismuth, pyrite, pyr, diamond, iamond HARDLOW The low range of a mineral's relative hardness; CHOICES: A number between 1-10. For any one mineral, Hardness usually varies within a narrow range. (Likewise for Specific Gravity). You can usually get away with using either the high or low end category when creating inquiries. HARDHIGH The high range of hardness. CHOICES: A number between 1-10. SGLOW The low range of a mineral's specific gravity. CHOICES: A number between 1-20. This is a numeric category and values range from about 1-20 with most minerals being under 10. SGHIGH The high range of specific gravity. CHOICES: A number between 1-20. There's usually only a small difference between the low and high range of SG but sometimes it's significant. CRYSTAL The crystal structure. CHOICES: cubic, tetragonal, hexagonal, orthorhombic, monoclinic, triclinic. HABIT The habit of the mineral; how it is most often found. CHOICES: See appendix C. Example: massive, aggregates, tabular The Habit is not really a searchable category since the terms used to describe habit depend a lot on the individual. This information is very useful for confirming identification. CLEAVAGE The number of cleavages and their quality. CHOICES: A number between 1-6 or the words; perfect, good, poor, none. Example of category contents: 3: 2 perfect, 1 good In this category the total number of cleavages (1-6) is shown. Then the quality of each cleavage is listed. 12 FRACTURE How a mineral breaks. CHOICES: uneven, conchoidal, earthy, hackly, splintery See Appendix C for definitions of the choices. TRANS The possible transparencies for a mineral. CHOICES: transparent, translucent, opaque COLOR The possible colors for a mineral. CHOICES: blue, black, brassy, brown, colorless, green, grey, orange, redpink, red, violet, yellow, white. (Refer to the color purple as blue. Likewise terms such as steel and tin come under grey.) LUSTER The possible lusters for a mineral. CHOICES: metallic, resinous, silky, adamantine, waxy, earthy, dull, vitreous, pearly, greasy. The choices in this category can be rather subjective and are best used for confirming identification. Mineral Mastery will list more than one luster for many minerals. (See Appendix C) STREAK The possible streaks for a mineral. CHOICES: blue, black, brown, green, grey, orange, pink, red, yellow, white. RARITY The relative rarity of a mineral. CHOICES: A number between 1-4. 1: Very rare, 2: Rare, 3: Common, 4: Very common NOTES Information about the mineral, field marks, associated minerals. CHOICES: A word or phrase. The notes category is displayed within a scrolling region on the Matches screen and does not refer to the pop-up notepad. The notes category can be searched for text references like: "copper". This will return a list of minerals whose notes contain the word copper. To find all minerals containing the element copper(Cu), search on the Formula field. CREATING INQUIRIES An inquiry is made up of one or more facts or statements about a mineral. The computer searches for all minerals meeting the conditions of the inquiry statement and returns a list of matches. Doing searches on easily determined physical properties like color, streak, hardness, specific gravity, and transparency will greatly narrow the possibilities or produce a match. Measuring the specific gravity is easily done with the right equipment or can be estimated relative to other minerals. 13 To get the hang of identifying specimens, begin working with known minerals obtained from mineral shows or the classroom. The best way is to work with someone more experienced. Computers are extremely precise in how they evaluate your instructions. When making an inquiry based on some known characteristics of a mineral, use these guidelines to get the best results. 1. Enter into the notepad or write down what you know about each category for your specimen. 2. Create statements, at first, only on those attributes that you are certain of. For example, you may be certain the streak is either blue or green but it's hard to distinguish. In this case it's best to include both possibilities in your first search. If you find too many matches, narrow the scope of your inquiry by providing more statements or by being more exact. 3. Re-examine your facts and modify the inquiry. Use Mineral Mastery's graphs to provide some clues or insights about minerals on your match list. Look for obvious ways that your specimen may differ from others in the graph. How many are Very Rare - does your mineral appear to be very rare? If not, then add the statement (Rarity > 1). Good cleavage is often obvious. How many have cleavage - does yours. If so then (cleavage > '0'). To do a search: Select 'Build a New Inquiry' at the Inquiry menu. A box will appear in the middle of the screen. See below. Press F1 for help. The help screen shows what categories you can search on and what words to use. Press any key to exit the help screen. -------------------[ Enter an Inquiry ]------------------ | 'blue'$color .and. sghigh < 6 | | | --------------------------------------------------------- | To activate, press Enter to bottom of box. | | Esc: Quit Inquiry F1: Help F2: Assist w/Inquiry | --------------------------------------------------------- Type your Inquiry statements and press Enter 1 to 3 times until the cursor reaches the bottom of the box. The program will then evaluate your inquiry and perform the search. Once your proficient at building inquiries you can just type your statements in the Inquiry box. If you prefer, press F2 and let 14 the program help build your inquiry statements. We'll explain how this works a bit later. INVALID INQUIRY Should you create an invalid inquiry or type something wrong, a large red and yellow box will appear with an error message. Press Enter and you can correct the error. Use the arrow keys to maneuver up, down and along lines within the Inquiry box. Pressing the Ins key on the keypad will toggle between Insert and Overwrite modes. Press the ESC key during an error condition and the program will terminate. This escape valve prevents the computer from locking up if it encounters an unresolvable logic error. Common errors are misspelling the name of a category, omitting quotes or not putting a period before or after .AND./.OR. The program can not detect that you have typed the wrong word within quotes. For example, "blakk"$streak will be accepted - you'll just get no matches on that inquiry statement. How to build an Inquiry An inquiry is made up of one or more statements, or facts, about a mineral that you are trying it identify. Minerals that meet all the conditions of your inquiry are placed in a list of matches. Don't worry if you're not yet comfortable with some of the terms used below. The section "Examples of Inquiries" gives many examples of inquiry statements and we'll also build one step by step later on. Inquiry statements are built by your providing: 1: A Category to search upon Color,cleavage,luster,hardness,streak etc. 2: A relationship symbol $ text term contained within a Category The $ symbol checks to see if the text term you specify is one of the words in that category. <= less than or equal to < less than > greater than >= greater than or equal to <> not equal to 3: A Value Either a numeric or a text value. Text terms must be typed in quotes and be in lower case. Element abbreviations in the Formula category are typed in upper and lower case. Surrounding quotes should not be entered if you elect to have Mineral Mastery help build the inquiry by pressing F2 from the Inquiry box. The program will supply quotes automatically for text categories when helping you construct 15 your statements. Text terms can be abbreviated. To repeat, use lower case when searching for words in text categories. 4. A Linking word The Link Word is used to join inquiry statements together. The computer needs to know what must be true if a mineral is to be a match. When building an inquiry that has more than one statement, we use the words .AND. or .OR. .AND. links two statements; requires both to be true to create a match. .OR. links two statements; if either is true a match is created. Here are two examples of inquiries: #1: 'blue'$color .AND. 'black'$streak #2 'blue'$color .OR. 'black'$streak Obviously, many more minerals will match inquiry #2. In general the .OR. link is much less restrictive than the .AND. link. See examples 5 and 6 in the section "Examples of Inquiries" for more information and also look below at the information on parenthisis. 5. Parenthesis Parenthesis are sometimes used to group statements when building complex inquiries. Statements within parenthesis are evaluated as a single statement and then joined with others outside the parenthesis. When using F2 to help build your inquiries, Mineral Mastery will supply parenthesis where it thinks they belong. And, 95% of the time, they go exactly where you intended. At times you may have to modify the parenthesis. When using the link word .OR. to create a series of statements on the same category, keep those statements together and put a parenthesis around them so they are evaluated as one. Otherwise, a match is made if any of the .OR. statements is true. Example: #1. 'blue'$streak .or. 'green'$streak .and. 'black'$color #2. ('blue'$streak .or. 'green'$streak) .and. 'black'$color In example #1, the color statement is linked to the green streak by the .AND. link. In example #2, it is linked to the whole statement in parenthesis. In #1, any mineral with a blue streak would be a match, even if its color was violet. Likewise any mineral with a green streak and black color is a match. In #2, the color must be black .AND. one of the statements in parethesis must be true. Mineral Mastery lets you make inquiries based upon what you know about your mineral. You are not held back by what you don't know or by any limited searching abilities of the software. The 16 complexity of the inquiries depends on your mineral specimen, your knowledge of the mineral, and your skill in creating inquiry statements. This flexibility is what gives Mineral Mastery its usefulness and ability to quickly find matching minerals. Complex searches are rarely needed to quickly narrow the list but sometimes may be useful. Let's first summarize how to use the relationship characters. The '$' character is only used with text categories. It means "see if this sequence of text characters is found in a category". Other words may also be there but we are asking if a particular sequence exists. You may abbreviate text terms but never category names. The other relationship symbols: > >= < <= <> are used with our numeric categories of Specific Gravity, Hardness, and Rarity. Numeric characters(1,2,3 etc) if within a text category are treated as text not as numbers! The only place in Mineral Mastery where this makes a useful difference is within the Cleavage category. The first character in this text category is a number(but text to the computer). The category first states the total number of cleavages and then info about each. An example would be: 2: 1 perfect, 1 good. So, (cleavage > '1') is a perfectly valid inquiry as is ('perfect' $cleavage). But notice that the number 1 has quotes around it. Inquiring cleavage > 1 would result in an error condition. The point is that you can use the cleavage category to inquire on the both the number of cleavages and the quality. Examples of Inquiries The section Mineral Categories lists the various terms and numeric ranges that may be used when creating inquiry statements for each category. 1. "blue" $color .or. "green" $color Finds minerals that are either blue or green in color. One of the two colors must be in the color category to create a match. The $ is used to check for text terms. You might use a statement like this if you aren't sure if a mineral's color is blue or green. The matched minerals can still be other colors but blue or green must be one of them. 2. "blue" $color .and. "green"$color Blue and green must both be in the color category to produce a match. The above inquiry would be useful, if you had two specimens of different color but you suspected they were the same mineral. The matched minerals can still be other colors but blue and green varieties must exist. 17 3. The cleavage category holds the number of planes of cleavage (1-6) and the quality: perfect, good, poor, none. Cleavage is a text category so you must use either single or double quotes when searching for text within it. In a text category, numbers are considered characters. This category always starts with the number of cleavage planes. cleavage > "0" Finds matches which have cleavage, 1 or more. cleavage < '1' (or "none"$cleavage) Matches have no (0) cleavage 'perfect'$cleavage Matches have perfect cleavage and perhaps cleavage of other qualities. cleavage >= "2" Matches have at least 2 cleavages cleavage < '1' .or. 'poor'$cleavage Sometimes a mineral may appear to have no cleavage when actually it's of poor quality and hard to recognize. The above statement allows for that uncertainty. 4. "transp" $trans Finds all minerals which can be transparent. The first five characters of translucent and transparent are the same. By abbreviating the search term up to the letter 'p' we'll get matches that can be transparent. 5. sglow > 6 .and. ('black' $streak .or. 'green' $streak) Matches have a Specific Gravity greater than 6 and the streak is either black or green. For a match to be made, the statement in parenthesis must be true. The two statements within the parenthesis are evaluated as one statement and then joined with the first statement. 6. sglow > 6 .and. 'black' $streak .or. 'green' $streak See how the parenthesis make a difference. Here, matches must have a Specific Gravity greater than 6 and a black streak or a match is made if just the streak is green! When Mineral Mastery helps build the inquiry, it will automatically include the parenthesis shown in example 5. 7. "mono" $crystal Finds only minerals that have a monoclinic crystal structure. The Crystal category never contains more than one word. 8. "bl" $color Returns minerals that contain black or blue in the Color category. "blu" would return matches that contain blue. 9. hardlow > 5 .and. hardhigh < 7 Returns matches where the hardness is between 5.1 and 6.9 . 18 10. "As" $formula Finds all minerals that contain silver. The first letter of an element's abbreviation is always capitalized. ("As"$formula .or. "Ag"$formula) finds minerals that contain silver or gold. ("As"$formula .and. "Ag"$formula) finds minerals that contain silver and gold. 11. "transp"$trans .or. "transl"$trans This will find matches where the Trans category contains the words translucent or transparent. This will also pick up minerals where the category contains: 1: transparent; 2: translucent; 3: translucent, opaque; and 4: transparent, translucent, opaque. BUT not minerals that are only "opaque". Remember, the $ symbol checks to see if your term is one of those in the category, not the only one. Some minerals are always opaque. Some can have transparent, translucent, or opaque varieties. For example, when asking "transparent"$trans we match minerals that have a transparent variety and eliminate those minerals that are never transparent (lead, gold, and many more). The inquiry "opaque"$trans finds opaque minerals and eliminates minerals that are never opaque - i.e., are found only transparent and translucent. Likewise, if your mineral is translucent you can safely eliminate minerals that are never translucent. 12. rarity >= 3 Finds minerals that are either common(3) or very common(4). Rarity = 1 returns only matches that are very rare. This would be a good inquiry if you wanted a list of only very rare minerals. Normally, when inquiring on rarity it's best to use >= or <=. 13. 'silver' $notes Lists minerals whose notes box has a reference to the word silver. This is handy for finding associated minerals or minerals that are ores. 'iron'$NOTES will list references to iron. 14. sglow > 8.5 This will match minerals that are very heavy. 15. 'uneven'$fracture .or. 'earthy'$fracture ASSIST WITH INQUIRY As discussed, you can choose to have the program assist with building the Inquiry statements by pressing F2: Assist with Inquiry from the inquiry box. 19 Selecting F2 causes the program to create inquiry statements by stepping you through menus. A link word, .AND. or .OR., is placed after every statement except the last one. The menus build statements in pairs; Statement A and Statement B. When a pair is completed it is linked with the next pair using .AND./.OR. and so on. The first decision is to select a category. Use the up and down arrow keys to point to a category. Press PgUp and PgDn to flip between pages of categories. Press Enter to select a category. (Press Q to abort the inquiry and return to the Inquiry box.) For our example, let's select the COLOR category. Select Category below for STATEMENT "A" ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ # Category Type Category Types: │ │ │ │ 8 HABIT C C = Character TERM │ │ 9 CLEAVAGE C │ │ 10 FRACTURE C │ │ 11 TRANS C N = Numeric VALUE │ │ > 12 COLOR C │ │ 13 LUSTER C │ │ 14 STREAK C │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Now, use the arrow keys to point to a relational symbol and press Enter to select it. We'll use the $ operator. Select a Relational Symbol below for STATEMENT "A" ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ > $ find text contained within a Category │ │ <= less than or equal to │ │ < less than │ │ > greater than │ │ >= greater than or equal to │ │ <> not equal to │ │ │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Type a value. We'll type blue. Press F1 here to get help. The categories Specific Gravity, Hardness, Rarity require a numeric value. All others are text. And remember, do not put quotes around your text terms here - the program will do it for you. 20 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ STATEMENT A Category Name COLOR │ │ Rel. Symbol $. │ │ Value or Term blue │ │ │ │ Link Word │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ F1 = Look-Up HELP │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ After the first statement of a pair is entered you must select a link word to join your statement A with the next statement, B. ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ SELECT A WORD TO LINK STATEMENT "A" AND STATEMENT "B" │ │ │ │ A = .AND. (A and B are both true) │ │ O = .OR. (Either A is true or B is true) │ │ <SPACE BAR> = Done. The inquiry is completed. │ │ │ │ Enter selection Q = Quit │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ So, select a LINK word A, O, or the Space bar. A: add another statement to the inquiry using the word .AND. O: add another statement using the word .OR. SPACE BAR: accept the inquiry as is. To create the statement: 'blue'$color .and. 'metallic'$luster, you'd select A to link the blue color with the metallic luster using the word .AND. To create the statement: 'blue'$color .or. 'green'$color, you'd select O to link the statements with the word .OR. Keep adding statements until you've listed all your inquiries. Eventually, you'll press the space bar when you're ready to activate the inquiry. The box below will appear including our inquiry statement(s). 21 ┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Combined Inquiry Statement: │ │ "blue" $COLOR .AND. HARDHIGH < 6 │ │ │ │ │ │ U = Use the above inquiry statement to find matches. │ │ A = Add another statement to the Inquiry. │ │ R = Rebuild. Quit this inquiry and build a new one. │ │ Q = Quit and do not use the above Inquiry. │ │ │ │ Enter Selection: A │ └───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ U: Use the inquiry as is A: Add another statement; this will step through the above screens again. This is the default. R: Scrap your inquiry and start over. Q: Quit to the Inquiry box and erase any statements. Upon pressing U you are returned to the Inquiry box where you can make changes, add more statements or activate the Inquiry. The program will first check your Inquiry statements to make sure they are valid and will then search for matches. If some are found you'll enter the Match Screen which has been explained previously. If your statements are invalid a bright red and yellow box will appear. Press any key except ESC and you'll be allowed to make changes to your inquiry. See the section "Invalid Inquiry". EXAMPLE: Doing an Inquiry Let's step through an example. We're going to be using the Advanced version of the program. Go to the Lesson menu and press Enter on 'Read a new Lesson'. Select 'Les1.les'. Read the story about Mineral Madness and use the notepad(F10) to take notes if you wish. From the story we determine these facts about the mineral we've found: 1. The luster is metallic 2. The streak is black 3. The color is brassy 4. The hardness is less than 7; that of quartz Leave the Lesson menu by pressing Esc and go to the Inquiry menu. Select 'Build a new Inquiry'. The Inquiry box appears. Let's gradually build our search statements. Remember, you can press the Ins key on the keypad to toggle between insert and overstrike modes while typing. You can press F1 at the Inquiry box to see a help screen. 22 Type the following inquiry exactly as below and then press Enter 3 times: 'metallic'$luster .and. 'black'$streak The computer will search for minerals matching these statements and the result is 25 matches. From 210 to 25 minerals on only 2 search statements! Move the sliding bar by using the up or down arrow keys and press Enter at a mineral name to see info on any of our matches. Press Esc once or twice to return to the Inquiry menu and select 'Edit Inquiry'. Our old inquiry reappears. Press the End key on the keypad to place the cursor at the end of our inquiry statement. Add another statement and our statement looks like this: 'metallic'$luster .and. 'black'$streak .and. 'brassy'$color Press Enter 3 times and we have now only 4 matches. Add the last statements and our combined inquiry statement looks like: 'metallic'$luster .and. 'black'$streak .and. 'brassy'$color .and. hardhigh < 7 Press Enter 2 times and we still have 4 matches. The last statement did not narrow it down at all. Now it's your turn to do some analysis. Press F7 from the Match screen to look at the graphs. There are significant differences among our matches that quickly become apparent. If you had a physical specimen and some basic testing equipment you'd probably solve this puzzle in short order. Select 'Answer' from the Lesson menu to see the what our prospector actually found. CORRECTIONS/SUGGESTIONS Write us at the address on the cover page if you find errors in the program or the documentation. Suggestions for improving or changing Mineral Mastery are always welcome. Customized versions for specialized uses are possible. In a future program update we would like to provide online access to hi-res photos of the minerals from an attached CD-ROM, video disk, or other high capacity storage device. We will collaborate with an interested developer or publisher. Please submit lessons you have created if you'd like to make them available to other users through a free lesson library. Additional words/definitions for the glossary are also accepted. 23 MINERAL KITS Mineral specimens can be obtained from rock clubs or companies which cater to the collector. The companies below offer a variety of mineral kits at reasonable prices. Write to them for more information. D. J. Minerals P.O. Box 761 Butte, Montana 59703 (406) 782-7339 A Bit of USA 3131 N. 33rd St. Phoenix, Arizona 85018 (602) 955-5988 or (602) 275-6184 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Sincere appreciation to the following organizations and individuals who helped make Mineral Mastery possible. IBM Corporation The League for Innovation in the Community College The Maricopa County Community College District, Phoenix, Arizona Billie Hughes, District Office and special thanks to Ray Grant, Geology Faculty, Mesa Community College BIBLIOGRAPHY Fay, Gordon S. The Rockhound's Manual. New York: Harper & Row, 1972. * A nice how-to book on looking for and identifying minerals. Available in most libraries. Mottana A., Crespi, R., Liborio,G. Simon & Schuster's Guide to Rocks and Minerals. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1977 * Plenty of good color illustrations. Chesterman, Charles W. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Rocks and Minerals. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1978 * The Audubon book is an excellent reference guide featuring hundreds of color photographs. Dana, James Dana's Manual of Mineralogy 17th Edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons Copyright 1989, DataWave Software P.O. Box 42213 Mesa, AZ 85274 24 APPENDIX A: Mineral List * denotes minerals in the Introductory version. actinolite adamite aegirite albite allanite alunite amblygonite anaclime anatase andalusite * andesine anglesite anhydrite anorthite anthophyllite antimony apatite * apophyllite aragonite arfvedsonite argentite arsenic arsenopyrite atacamite augite * autunite axinite azurite * barite * beryl * biotite * bismuth bismuthinite boracite borax bornite * bournonite brookite brucite calcite * carnallite carnotite cassiterite celestite cerussite chabazite chalcanthite chalcocite * chalcopyrite * chlorite chondrodite * chromite chrysoberyl chrysocolla * 25 cinnabar clinozoisite cobaltite colemanite columbite copper * cordierite corundum * covellite cristobalite crocoite cryolite cuprite danburite datolite diamond diaspore diopside dioptase dolomite * dumortierite enargite enstatite epidote * epsomite erythrite euclase ferberite fluorite * franklinite galena * garnet * garnierite glauberite glauconite glaucophane goethite * gold * graphite * greenockite gypsum * halite * harmotome hausmannite hauyne hematite * hemimorphite heulandite hornblende * hydrozincite ilmenite iron jadeite jasper kaolinite * kernite kyanite * labradorite 26 laumontite lazulite lazurite lepidolite leucite magnesite magnetite * malachite * manganite marcasite margarite mercury microline * millerite mimetite molybdenite * monazite muscovite * natrolite nephiline niccolite oligoclase * olivine * opal * orpiment orthoclase pectolite penninite pentlandite petalite phenakite phillipsite phlogopite plagioclase platinum polybasite polyhalite prehnite proustite psilomelane purpurite pyragyrite pyrite * pyrolusite * pyromorphite pyrophyllite pyrrhotite * quartz * realgar rhodocrosite rhodonite rutile scapolite scheelite scolecite scorodite sepiolite serpentine * 27 siderite sillimanite silver * skutterudite smithsonite sodalite sperrylite sphalerite * sphene spinel spodumene staurolite * stephanite stibnite stilbite strontianite sulfur sylvanite sylvite talc * tetrahedrite thenardite topaz * tourmaline * tremolite trydimite turquoise * ulexite uraninite vanadinite vesuvianite vivianite wavellite willemite witherite woolastonite wulfenite * zincite zircon zoisite 28 APPENDIX B: Editor commands When typing within the Notepad or when creating a lesson, you are using Mineral Mastery's word processor (text editor). As you type, words that hit the right margin are wrapped around automatically to the next line. Press F2 within the editor and you'll see a help screen of editing commands which are explained below. The ^ symbol in the commands means to press the Ctrl key and then the designated key. Up 1 line: Down 1 line: Left 1 char: Right 1 char: Press the up, down, left, and right arrows on the keypad to move the cursor up and down one line or left and right one character. Left 1 word: ^ Right 1 word: ^ Press the Ctrl key and the right or left keypad arrow to move the cursor right or left one word. Beg line: Home End lineo: End Press the Home or End key on the keypad to move the cursor to the beginning or end of the current line. Top of page: ^Home Bot of page: ^End Cursor to the top or bottom of the current page. Page up: PgUp Page down: PgDn The PgUp and PgDn keys on the keypad move text up or down one full screen. To top: ^PgUp To bot: ^PgDn Places the cursor at the top or bottom of the document. Del char: Del Press the Del key on the keypad to delete the character underneath the cursor. Del left: Bkspc Press the back arrow key to delete the character to the left of the cursor. Delete line: ^y Delete all text on the current line. Del word rt: ^t Delete the word to the right of the cursor. 29 End/Save: ^w Saves the typed text and exits the editor. Always exit the editor this way to save your text. Abort Edit: Esc Press ESC while in the editor and you will be asked if you wish to abort the edit. Enter Y and text typed in the current editing session will not be saved. Typing done previously is not affected. Enter N and you are placed back into the editor. Ins/Ovrstrk: Ins Press the Ins key on the keypad to toggle between insert and overwrite modes. In insert mode, text to the right of the cursor is pushed right as you type. In overstrike mode, you type over it. Format Para: ^b This command reformats the current paragraph by removing excess spaces. This is used when you have deleted or added some text and there are gaps on lines. To print the contents of the notepad, select Print Notes from the System menu. To print a lesson file, from DOS type: B> copy filename.les prn 30 APPENDIX C: Mineral Identification/Terminology Minerals take many shapes and colors and are fascinating to study. What is a mineral? A mineral is defined as a solid, naturally occurring substance with a crystalline structure. Every mineral has a definite chemical composition. The crystal structure represents an orderly arrangement of atoms and is thus responsible for the predictable physical attributes of specific minerals. These attributes are things like hardness, crystal form, cleavage, and others. These physical properties offer an excellent means of identifying many minerals. A mineral may be a single element such as lead or gold. Or, it can be a complex compound made up of many elements but in definite proportions. About 3000 minerals have been discovered so far but many are only encountered as microscopic specimens. There are about 200 minerals that you are likely to study or encounter in the field. Gems are minerals that have ornamental value. Gemstones have three qualities that set them apart from the more common, every- day minerals - beauty, durability, and rarity. Only about 20 mineral species qualify as gemstones. Some gemstones are just varieties of a single mineral. Ruby and sapphire are varieties of corundum. Emerald, aquamarine, and morganite are varieties of beryl. Impurities in the mineral give each variety a distinctive color. These minerals and their varieties have the required vividness of color, brilliance, and hardness to qualify as gemstones. When cut and polished the scintillating play of light through their crystal surfaces make each unique and beautiful. A number of additional minerals could qualify as gems but they are so rare that an active market doesn't exist for them. A rock is an aggregate of minerals. Usually, a type of rock consists of several essential minerals and several minor (accessory) minerals. The accessory minerals are not particularly important to the overall composition of the rock. The way a rock was formed determines what types of minerals are likely to be found within it since mineral deposits originate under distinct conditions. The collector is interested in finding places where minerals occur in reasonable abundance because this increases the chances of finding well-formed and attractive crystals. He learns to understand the relationships between certain rocks and the associated minerals. For example, diamond is found in kimberlite; crystal geodes occur in certain limestone deposits; gold is sometimes associated with rose colored quartz. Identifying minerals can be a challenging process for the beginner and a bit confusing at first. With some experience, training, or just practice you develop an understanding and become familiar with rock types and minerals. 31 ATTRIBUTES DESCRIBED by CATEGORY Most minerals you are likely to observe can be identified using a few simple tests and inexpensive equipment. There are also lab tests such as xray diffraction which are extremely accurate and are used by professionals on minute samples. As we discussed, minerals have a crystal structure which endows them with certain consistent physical attributes. Although the crystal structure is seldom very obvious, we can test the attributes and thus define the mineral. The most useful physical attributes for identification are: color, streak, luster, hardness, cleavage, specific gravity, fracture, habit, crystal structure, and transparency. FORMULA Minerals are made up of one or more elements. The formula lists the chemical makeup. Notation like (Mg,Fe) means that either magnesium or iron may make up this part of the composition. COLOR Color is the most obvious property of a mineral. Some minerals, especially those with a metallic luster, can be identified by color alone. But most non-metallic minerals, can occur under a variety of colors. Color can be caused by small impurities, atomic structure, or structural defects within a crystal. Diamonds in their perfect state are colorless but if they contain minute traces of other elements they can be yellow, red, or even blue. The colored varieties can be many times more valuable than the colorless! In general, a particular mineral will occur in certain colors. This gives us a clue to its identity but additional tests are usually required. STREAK A mineral's streak is its color when it is pulverized into a fine powder. The most common means to test for streak is to rub the mineral across a piece of unglazed white porcelain tile - a "streak plate". The streak can be dramatically different from the color of the specimen. Streak is an excellent indicator with dark colored and especially metallic minerals. It's not as useful with light colored minerals. If the mineral's hardness is higher than that of porcelain (6.5) it can't be tested on a streak plate because the plate powders rather than the mineral. LUSTER The luster of a mineral is the way the surface appears in reflected light. This is not to be confused with the mineral's color. Minerals can be of different colors and have the same luster. Luster is determined by the surface characteristics of the mineral's atomic structure. The luster should be viewed on a freshly broken, untarnished mineral surface. We first determine if the luster is metallic. A nonmetallic luster can be classified several ways. As you can guess, luster is a subjective evaluation and two people may not agree on a specimen. 32 Yet there is a significant difference between an adamantine and an earthy luster. Use luster as a general guide. adamantine: brilliant or gemlike earthy, dull: a porous, lusterless surface greasy: appears to have a greasy surface pearly: like the surface of a pearl resinous: resin like submettalic: a slightly metallic looking luster vitreous: glassy HARDNESS The hardness is a mineral's resistance to being scratched. The Moh's scale is used to rate hardnes. The softest minerals rate a 1, the hardest a 10. 1. talc 2. gypsum 3. calcite 4. fluorite 5.apatite 6. orthoclase 7. quartz 8. topaz 9. corundum 10. diamond A mineral in the scale can scratch any mineral with a lower or the same number and can be scratched itself by any item higher in the scale. Testing kits can be easily obtained from mineral supply houses or rock clubs. The Moh's scale is a scale of relative hardness. Diamond is actually 4 times harder than corundum. Corundum is less than twice as hard as topaz. To test a specimen, attempt to scratch it with a sharp test point. Press the test mineral firmly but lightly against a fresh surface of your specimen and scratch. If the test point is harder you should feel a definite biting or catching as it abrades the surface. If it's softer it will slide across the surface. If it's a close match the biting action may be quite slight. If your specimen can be scratched by fluorite but not by calcite then you can assign a hardness of about 3.5 to it. Be careful when testing minerals that are fibrous, granular, or easily pulverized. They may seem softer than they really are. Some other common items used to test hardness are: fingernail (2.5) copper penny (3) knife blade or window glass (5.5 - 6) hardened steel file (7+) emery cloth (8 - 9) The hardness of a mineral may vary a bit depending on which direction it is scratched. Mineral Mastery lists the high and low ranges of hardness for each mineral. CLEAVAGE Cleavage is the tendency of a mineral to break along one or more smooth, flat, lustrous surfaces. Cleavage is an indicator of how atoms are arranged within the mineral crystal. There are 4 types of cleavage and a mineral may exhibit more than one kind. Perfect: breaks clean and easy in one or more directions Good: breaks in a direction but not as cleanly Poor: appears to have cleavage but the break is rough None: No cleavage is apparent 33 A mineral may have perfect cleavage in 1 direction and poor or good cleavage in another. Mineral Mastery lists the number and quality of cleavage for each mineral. You often don't have to break a mineral to observe its cleavage as it's easily observed in some specimens - especially transparent minerals where internal cleavages are sometimes easily seen with magnification. SPECIFIC GRAVITY Specific Gravity is the relative weight of a mineral compared to an equal volume of water. SG is determined by weighing the sample once in air and once suspended in water. The difference between the two weights is equal to the weight of the volume of displaced water. This is divided into the weight of the sample in air to arrive at the Specific Gravity. In mathematical terms: x = weight in air y = weight in water SG = x/(x - y) The SG is an excellent aid to identification. You can get a fair approximation of SG by simply comparing the heft to a known mineral of similar size. As you can assume, metallic minerals generally have a higher SG than the non-metallics. The SG varies in a narrow range for most minerals. Mineral Mastery lists the upper and lower ranges and you can search on either or both. FRACTURE The way a mineral fractures can sometimes be an aid to identification. Mineral Mastery uses the following terms to classify fractures: Uneven: A rough or irregular surface Conchoidal: "Shell like". Has a smooth curved surface. Hackly: Sharp jagged surface like broken metal. Splintery: Forms elongated splinters. (fibrous minerals) Earthy: Breaks like clay or chalk. Many minerals will not readily show cleavage but most show fracture. CRYSTAL FORM Minerals appear to come in a myriad of shapes but actually there are only six crystal types. You don't have to be too concerned about knowing how to recognize them for identification purposes. The six crystal systems are: cubic (isometric), tetragonal, hexagonal, orthorhombic, monoclinic, and triclinic. These each have physical characteristics that you can learn to recognize. Any good book on mineral collecting will give this detailed discussion. 34 HABIT Minerals are normally found in a characteristic form. The "habit" is the way a particular mineral crystal usually grows. Here's some terms often used to describe habit: ACICULAR: very elongated, needle shaped crystals ARBORESCENT: treelike in form; branching pattern BOTRYOIDAL: a globular growth, similar to a bunch of grapes COLUMNAR: looks like slender, parallel columns CONCRETIONARY: appears as a mass cemented together into a rounded, somewhat artificial looking form FELTED: appears matted or pressed together, like felt FIBROUS: crystals resembling threadlike fibers FOLIATED: a laminated structure of roughly parallel layers LAMELLAR: composed of thin layers, plates, or scales MASSIVE: A mineral that with no definite crystal form or in poorly defined masses of small crystals. PRISMATIC: A crystal elongated in one direction. RADIATING: like lines going outward from the center of a circle STRIATED: Has very shallow, parallel grooves or depressions on one or more crystal faces TABULAR: flattened crystals TWINS: Two or more crystals that grow together in a definite systematic arrangement. TRANS The level of transparency of a mineral. A mineral can be transparent, translucent, or opaque. Some minerals can be any of the three depending on the specimen. Specifying the transparency in Mineral Mastery is pretty safe because it doesn't exclude other possibilities. Transparent: you can see through it clearly Translucent: light passes through but is diffused; you can't see through it clearly Opaque: no light passes through When judging a mineral for transparency, select an edge or thin cross-section. 35 INDEX $ 15, 17 ^ 5, 29 denoting a hint 10 < 15 <= 15 <> 15 > 15 >= 15 @ 10 Abort Edit 5 Accessory 31 AND 16 Assist with Inquiry 19 Attributes 31 Categories Defined 12 Choices 12 Cleavage 12, 18, 33 Color 13, 32 Config.sys Files and Buffers 4 Crystal 12, 34 Ctrl key 29 '^' character 5 DOS Shell Exit 11 Editor 5, 29 Element 31 Error message 15 ESC 5 Formula 12, 32 Fracture 13, 34 Gemstones 31 Glossary Menu 10 Graphics card 4 Graphs 7, 14 Habit 12, 35 Hardness 12, 33 Hints 9 Inquiries: Examples 17 Inquiry 13 Inquiry Box 14, 15, 19, 22 Inquiry Menu 6 Inquiry Statement 11, 15 Inquiry: An example 22 INS key 6 Installation Hard disk, floppy 4 Invalid inquiry 15 Lesson Menu 9 Link Word .AND., .OR. 16 Luster 13, 32 Matches Screen 6 Memory 4 Metallic 32 36 Mineral 31 Mineral kits 24 Moh's scale 33 NEW FILE 9 Notepad 5, 29 Notes 13 Notes box 6, 19 Numeric Categories 11, 17 Opaque 35 OR 16 Parenthesis 16 Paste 7 PgDn 20 PgUp 20 Print Lesson 8 Print Screen 7 Rarity 13 Relationship symbol 17 $, <=, <, >, >=, <> 15 Rock 31 Setup 4 SG 34 Specific gravity 12, 34 Statement A 20 Statements 13 Streak 13, 32 System Menu 11 Text editor 29 Trans 13, 35 Translucent 35 Transparency 35 Transparent 35 Value Text, Numeric 15 Versions Intro, Advanced 4 37 ----------------end-of-author's-documentation--------------- Software Library Information: This disk copy provided as a service of The Public (Software) Library We are not the authors of this program, nor are we associated with the author in any way other than as a distributor of the program in accordance with the author's terms of distribution. 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