WEEK 2 LESSON 3

PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF MINERALS

Physical Properties Include habit, luster, cleavage and fracture, hardness, color and streak
Crystal habit Refers to the overall shape or growth pattern of the mineral. It can be described as
equant, elongate, and platy
Equant Three dimensions of the mineral have about the same length, like that of a cube or
sphere (ei. Garnet)
Elongate Forms prismatic or prism-like crystals that are thicker than the needle as in a pencil
(ei. Indicolite)
Platy Looks like a flattened and thin crystal (like plate) (Ei. Wulfenite)
Luster Describes the apperance of a mineral when light is reflected from its surface. It can
be described as opaque, transparent, dull or shiny
Metallic luster Opaque and very reflective like gold and silver
Nonmetallic luster Dull, silky, greasy and pearly like silicates
Cleavage and fracture Refers to the tendency of minerals to break along very smooth, flat and shiny
surfaces. A mineral fracture, if it breaks along random, irregular surfaces. Some
minerals break only by fracturing, while others both cleave and fracture.
Hardness Is a measure of the mineral’s resistance to scratching. Harder minerals will scratch
softer minerals. Friedrich Mohs in 1812 ranked minerals according to ther hardness
as shown in the table below.
Scale Mineral
1 Talc
2 Gypsum
2.5 Fingernail
3 Calcite
3.5 Copper penny
4 Fluorite
5 Apatite
5.5 Steel knife blade/glass plate
6 Orthoclase feldspar
7 Quartz
8 Topaz
9 Corundum (ruby)
10 Diamond
Color One of the most obvious properties of a mineral but not reliable alone. Some
minerals come in just one color, while other come in many colors and varieties.
Quartz Varies widely in color, due to minor (parts per billion) impurities and even defects
in its crystalline structure
Streak - Refers to the color of the mineral in its powdered form, which may or may
not be the same color as the mineral.
- Can be obtained by scratching the mineral on an unpolished piece of white
porcelain called a streak plate
- More reliable property than color because it shows the true color of minerals
Streak plate Unpolished piece of white porcelain where a mineral is scratched to obtain streak
Magnetism - Additional property of a mineral
- To test a mineral for magnetism, just put the magnet and mineral together
and see if they are attracted
Magnetite Only common mineral that is always strongly magnetic
Reaction with acid - Some minerals, especially carbonate minerals, react visibly with acid
- When a drop of dilute hydrochloric aid (Hcl) is places on calcite, it readily
bubbles or effervesces, releasing carbon dioxide
Dilute hydrochloric acid (HCl) Usually used to test reaction of minerals with acid
Striations Presence of very thin, parallel gloves
Specific gravity Weight of that mineral divided by the weight of an equal volume of water.
1.0 Specific gravity of water, by definition
2.6 to 3.4 Specific gravities of most silicate or rock-forming minerals
5 to 8 Specific gravities of ore minerals
Taste, order, feel Some minerals have a distinctive taste (halite is salt, and tastes like it), distincitive
odor (powder of some sulfide minerals such as sphalerite, a zinc sulfide, smells like
rotten eggs) and some have a distinctive feel (talc feels slippery)
Chemical properties Show the presence and arrangement of atoms in minerals
Dana system Divides minerals into eight basic classes
Native elements - Minerals are naturally occuring in nature in an uncombined form with a
distinct mineral structure.
- Can be classified as metals, semimetals, and non-metals
Silicates - Largest group of mineraks
- Contains silicon and oxygen, with some aluminum, magnesium, iron and
calcium
Oxides - Formed from the combination of a metal with oxygen. This group ranges
from dull ores like bauxite to gems like rubbies and sapphires.
Sulfides - Made of compounds of sulfur usually with a metal
- Tend to be heavy and brittle
Sulfates - Made of compounds of sulfure combined with metals and oxygen
- Large group of minerals that tend to be soft and translucent
Halides - Form from halogen elements like chlorine, bromine, fluorine, and iodine
combined with metallic
Carbonates Group of minerals made of carbon, oxygen, and a metallic element
Phsophate - Often formed when other minerals are broken down by weathering
- Often brightly colored
Mineraloid Term used for those substances that do not fit neatly into one of those eight classes
Rock Naturally occuring solid aggregate of minerals sometime with nonmineral solid
particles
Igneous rocks/magmatic rocks - Formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava
- Can be classified into intrusive or extrusive
Intrusive igneous rocks - Type of igneous rock formed from solidification of magma below the
surface
- Have large crystals of minerals that formed overtime through slow process
of crystallization in a magma
- Examples are granite, diorite, gabbro, pegmatite, and periodite
Extrusive igneous rocks - Type of rokc formed through faster rate of solidification of lava on the
surface of Earth
- Can become glassy in appearance due to less crystallization or vesicular like
Scoria, due to the air trapped inside when they solidifed and formed on the
surface of the earth
- Examples are andesite, dacite, obsidian, pumice, rhyolite, and tuff
Sedimentary rock - Formed by the deposition of mineral or organic particles on the floor of
oceans and other bodies of water at the Earth surface
- Can be classified into clastic, chemical and organic
Clastic sedimentary rock - formed from the mechanicla weathering debris of rocks
- Examples are breccia, conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, and shale
Chemical sedimentary rock - Formed when dissolved materials precipitate from solution
- Examples are rock salt, iron ore, chert, flint, some dolomites
Organic sedimentary rock Formed from the build-up of plant or animal debris
Metamorphic rock - Forms from existing rock types called “parent tock” in the process called
metamorphism, which means change in form
- The original rock which can be igneous, sedimentary or another
metamorphic rock is subjected to heat and pressure, causing a profounf
chemical or physical change
- Can be classified into foliated or nonfoliated
Foliated metamorphic rocks - Formed through pressure due to compression of rocks that create bands
called foliation
- Examples are gneiss, phyllite, schist, and slate
Nonfoliated metamorphic - Has no foliation or bands
rocks - Examples are hornfels, quartzite, and nonvaculite