It is important to examine both the colour and the streak of a mineral because the streak may be completely different from the colour of the hand specimen.
The streak of a mineral is the color it possesses after it has been grounded to a fine powder. The streak test has to be done on minerals because it is a more reliable way of identifying a mineral with its color.<span />
Covalent bond a chemical bond formed by two electrons that are shared between two atoms
ionic bond<span> a chemical bond formed by the electrostatic attraction between ions</span>
metallic bond<span> a bond characteristic of metals in which mobile valence electrons are shared among positive nuclei in the metallic crystal</span>
948 or 9.48 x 10^2
There are two sets of rules for significant figures
• One set for addition and subtraction
• Another set for multiplication and division
You used the set for multiplication and division.
This problem involves addition and subtraction, and the rule is
The number of places after the decimal point in the answer must be <em>no greater than the number of decimal places in every term</em> in the sum.
Thus, we have
78.9
+890.43
-21.
= 948.33
The "21" term has the fewest digits after the decimal point (none), so the answer must have no digits after the decimal point.
To the correct answer is 948 = 9.48 x 10^2. It has three significant figures.
