Properties of Minerals

1. Perform scratch test

• Color
• Luster
• Cleavage and Fracture
• Mohs hardness scale

2. Observe surface of mineral

• Color
• Luster
• Cleavage and Fracture
• Mohs hardness scale

3. Observe color of mineral’s powder

• Color
• Luster
• Cleavage and Fracture
• Streak

4. Observe how mineral reflects light

• Color
• Luster
• Cleavage and Fracture
• Streak

5. Find mass per unit volume

• Color
• Luster
• Density
• Cleavage and Fracture

6. Observe number and angle of crystal faces

• Cleavage and Fracture
• Crystal(line) Structure/ Shape
• Color
• Luster

7.  List the five characteristics necessary for a substance to be a mineral.

• Solid, naturally occurring, organic, crystal structure and Chemical Composition
•  naturally occurring, inorganic solid with a crystal structure and a definite chemical composition.
• Solid, naturally occurring, organic, crystal share and Chemical Composition

Explain why each mineral has its own properties, different from every other mineral.

• Each mineral has its own properties because each mineral has a definite chemical composition because  all minerals are compounds. A mineral always contain certain elements.
• Minerals do not have orderly crystalline structure. This means that the atoms or ions that make up a mineral are not arranged in an orderly and repetitive manner.

9. Cleavage

• the property of splitting easily along flat surfaces
• how a mineral breaks apart in an irregular way
• formed from materials that were not a part of living things

10. Streak

•  a mixture in which one substance is dissolved in another
• a ranking of minerals from softest to hardest
• a long, thin line or mark of a different substance or color from mineral powder