IDENTIFYING MINERAL Earth Science Chapter 1.2
May 16, 2015
IDENTIFYING MINERAL
Earth Science
Chapter 1.2
Objectives:
1. Identify seven ways to determine the identity of minerals.
2. Explain special properties of minerals.
Identifying Minerals Use Properties
Color○ Minerals display a wide variety of colors, and often the
same mineral can be found in many different colors○ usually not the best way to identify a mineral
*** All varieties of Quartz
LusterThe way a mineral reflects lightThree types of mineral luster1. Metallic – bright, reflective
2. Submetallic – dull, reflective
3. Nonmetallic - dull
glassy silky resinous waxy
pearly Earthy
StreakThe color of a mineral in powdered formCan be found by running the mineral against a
piece of unglazed porcelain called a streak platecolor of a mineral’s streak is not always the same
as the color of the mineral sample
Gold
Platinum
Copper
Cleavage and FractureDifferent types of minerals break in different
ways
1. Cleavage○ Tendency of some minerals to break along smooth, flat
surfaces
2. Fracture○ Tendency of some minerals to break unevenly along
curved or irregular surfaces
Examples of cleavageExamples of fracture
HardnessMineral’s resistance to being scratchedscientists use Mohs hardness scale
Densitymeasure of how much matter is in a
given amount of spaceDensity is a ratio of an object’s mass to
its volume
Density = 5.1 g/cm3
Density = 19.3 g/cm3
Specific Gravity : Ratio of an objects density to the density of water
Special PropertiesSome properties are particular to only a
few types of minerals