What are 5 diagnostic properties of minerals?

Most minerals can be characterized and classified by their unique physical properties: hardness, luster, color, streak, specific gravity, cleavage, fracture, and tenacity.

What are the 13 physical properties of minerals?

Color, luster, streak, hardness, cleavage, fracture, and crystal form are the most use- ful physical properties for identifying most minerals.

What is the most diagnostic property of minerals?

Hardness
Hardness. One of the most important diagnostic properties of a mineral is its hardness. In practical terms, hardness determines whether or not a mineral can be scratched by a particular material.

What are the 4 properties of minerals?

Minerals can be identified by their color, luster, streak, cleavage, hardness, and even by their chemical composition. Using these properties is one way a Geologist defines and identifies what kind of mineral a specimen is. The museum has 6 wall spaces at the museum dedicated to these specific properties with examples.

What are the two major properties of minerals?

A mineral species is defined by two distinct properties: (1) its chemical com- position and (2) its crystal structure. Each mineral has a distinct three- dimensional array of its constituent atoms. This regular geometry affects its physical properties such as cleavage and hardness.

What are the physical and chemical properties of minerals?

Properties that help geologists identify a mineral in a rock are: color, hardness, luster, crystal forms, density, and cleavage. Crystal form, cleavage, and hardness are determined primarily by the crystal structure at the atomic level. Color and density are determined primarily by the chemical composition.

How are physical properties related to mineral identification?

The physical properties of minerals are related to their chemical composition and bonding. Some characteristics, such as a mineral’s hardness, are more useful for mineral identification. Color is readily observable and certainly obvious, but it is usually less reliable than other physical properties.

Why are opaque minerals more difficult to identify?

In opaque minerals, the color tends to be more consistent, so learning the colors associated with these minerals can be very helpful in identification. Translucent to transparent minerals have a much more varied degree of color due to the presence of trace minerals. Therefore, color alone is not reliable as a single identifying characteristic.

How are metallic lusters used to identify minerals?

Luster is also related to atomic structure and bonding within the mineral itself: metallic lusters tend to correspond with ionic bonds and nonmetallic lusters with covalent bonds. This makes it a fairly reliable way to identify minerals as it shows some of the chemical characteristics of the mineral.

What are the characteristics of a brittle mineral?

Brittle – Mineral crushes to angular fragments (quartz). Malleable – Mineral can be modified in shape without breaking and can be flattened to a thin sheet (copper, gold). Sectile – Mineral can be cut with a knife into thin shavings (talc). Flexible – Mineral bends but doesn’t regain its shape once released (selenite, gypsum).