Mineral Properties

Physical Properties of Minerals

► Color
► Streak
► Hardness
► Cleavage or Fracture
► Crystalline Structure
► Magnetism
► Luster
► Chemical Composition
► Specific Gravity (density)
 Color
► 18 Of the mineral properties, color is the
least accurate for figuring out a mineral’s
identity

► 23 The purest color of quartz is clear

because it has the fewest impurities inside
of it
 Streak
► 13 A mineral’s streak is the powder left
behind when a mineral scratches against a
streak plate.

► 14The color of the powder that a mineral

leaves on a piece of white, unglazed
porcelain is called the streak.
Streak
 Luster
► 20 This characteristic is how light reflects
off the mineral.
 Luster

► 21 Metallic and
nonmetallic
describes a mineral’s
luster
 Another Property
► Cleavage or Fracture
 Cleavage
► 15Cleavage is the tendency of a mineral to
break along flat surfaces.
Cleavage
► 17 A Diamond
breaks evenly
and this is
called
cleavage.
 Fracture
► 15Fracture is the tendency of minerals to
break into irregular pieces.
 Fracture
► 16Quartz breaks unevenly and this is called
fracture
 Hardness
► Thisphysical property is expressed in
numbers and shows how the substance
withstands being scratched.
► 10Minerals are identified by Hardness is
tested by scratching
 Hardness
► What is Mohs' hardness scale?

►9 A scale from 1 to 10 that measures the

hardness of minerals.
 Hardness
► Which is the softest?
 Hardness
► Which is the hardest?
► 11What physical properties can be
expressed in numbers and shows how that
substance withstands being scratched?
Hardness
 Other Properties
► Magnetism

► Crystalline Structure

► Chemical Composition

► Specific Gravity (density)

 Do you have all 9?
► Color
► Streak
► Hardness
► Cleavage or Fracture
► Crystalline Structure
► Magnetism
► Luster
► Chemical Composition
► Specific Gravity (density)
► 19The most common classification of
minerals is based on chemical composition.

► 22This is considered a special property that

applies to only a few minerals. Magnetism.