Lesson 3: Physical and Chemical Properties of

Minerals

Minerals
o A building blocks of rocks.
o Important components of the earth's lithosphere.
o It is a naturally occurring material that plays a significant role in human civilization. It is
harnessed and used by humans in everyday life.
o They are present everywhere and some examples can be found at home. These are:
 Hematite (hinges, handles, makeup  Quartz (clocks, mirrors)
color)  Gold (jewelries)
 Chromite (Chrome plating, dyes)  Feldspar (porcelain, ceramic)
 Copper (electric wiring)  Fluorite (toothpaste).

 Mineralogists use the criteria to determine whether a material is classified as a mineral or

not.

Characteristics of Minerals
1. Naturally occurring
o It identifies mineral as part of earth’s natural processes.
2. Inorganic
o It means a substance is not a product of an organism.
3. Homogenous solid
o Minerals should have definite volume and rigid shape.
4. Definite chemical composition
o It is represented by a chemical formula.
5. Orderly crystalline structure
o Atoms of minerals are arranged in an orderly and repeating pattern.
Physical and Chemical Properties of Minerals
o Minerals can be distinguished using their physical and chemical properties.

A. Physical Properties
1. Crystal Habit
o Refers to the overall shape or growth pattern of the mineral.
o It can be described as:
 Equant
o Three dimensions of the mineral have about the same length,
like a cube or sphere.
o Example is garnet.
 Elongate
o Forms of prismatic or prism-like crystals that are thicker than
the needle as in a pencil.
o Example is indicolite.
 Platy
o Looks flattened and thin like crystals like plate.
o Example is Wulfenite.
2. Luster
o Describes the appearance of a mineral when light is reflected from its surface.
o It can be described as opaque, transparent, dull, or shiny.
o Two Kinds:
 Metallic Luster
o Is opaque and very reflective like gold or silver.
 Nonmetallic Luster
o Dull, silky, greasy, and pearly like silicates.
3. Cleavage and Fracture
o Refers to the tendency of minerals to break along very smooth, flat, and shiny
surfaces.
o A mineral fracture if it breaks along random irregular surfaces.
o Some minerals break only by fracturing, while others both cleave and fracture.
o Examples:
 Biotite and Mica – one direction
 Orthoclase – two directions
 Galena – three directions
  Fluorite – four directions
 Quartz – conchoidal fracture
 Asbestos – splintery fracture
*Conchoidal is a smoothly curve fracture surface of fine-grained materials.
*Splintery is breakage into elongated fragments like splinters
4. Hardness
o The measure of mineral’s resistance to scratching.
o Harder minerals will scratch softer minerals.
o The Mohs Scale was introduced in 1822. Friedrich Mohs chose ten minerals and
assigned numbers to them based on the relative ease or difficulty in which stone
can be scratched by another.
o Moh’s Scale of Hardness
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

5. Color
o One of the most obvious properties of a mineral but not a reliable one.
o Some minerals come in just one color, while others come in many colors and
varieties.
o Quartz varieties widely in color, due to minor (parts per billion) impurities and
even defects in its crystalline structure.
 6. Streak
o Refers to the color of mineral in its powdered form, which may or may not be the
same as the mineral.
o It is more reliable property than color as it shows the true color of minerals. It
does not vary even if color does.
o Streak is obtained by scratching mineral on an unpolished piece of white porcelain
called a steak plate (Bayo-ang, 2016).
o When the excess powder is blown away, what remains is the color of the streak.
7. Diaphaneity/ amount of transparency
o The ability to allow light to pass through it.
o This is affected by chemical makeup of the mineral sample.
8. Tenacity
o Describes the minerals reaction to stress.
o Different types of tenacity:
 Brittleness – a mineral turns into powder.
 Malleability – can be flattened by pounding with a hammer.
 Ductility – can be stretched into wire.
 Flexible but inelastic – bent but remain in the new position.
 Flexible & elastic – bent and they return to their original position.
9. Sectility
o Ability of minerals to be sliced by a knife.

Additional Properties
1. Magnetism
o Some minerals are attracted to a hand magnet.
o Test a mineral for magnetism through putting the magnet and mineral together and
see if they are attracted.
o Magnetite is the only common mineral that is always strongly magnetic.
2. Striations
o Presence of very thin, parallel grooves.
o The grooves are present in only one of two sets of cleavages and are best seen
with a hand lens. They may not be visible on all parts of a cleavage surface.
 o Before you decide if there are no striations, look at all parts of all visible cleavage
surfaces, moving the sample around as you look wherein light is reflected from
these surfaces at different angles.
3. Specific Gravity
o The weight of mineral divided by the weight of an equal volume of water.
o The specific gravity of water equals 1.0.
o For most minerals, specific gravity is not particularly noteworthy feature, but foe
some high specific gravity is distinctive (examples are barite and galena).
o Examples:
 Silicate or rock-forming minerals – 2.6 to 3.4 gravities
 Ore are heavier – 5 to 8 gravities.
4. Taste, Odor, Feel
o Some minerals have distinctive taste.
o Some gives off a distinctive odor.
o Some have distinctive feel.
o Examples:
 Taste – halite is salt and takes like it.
 Odor – powder of sulfide minerals (sphalerite, zinc sulfide) smells like rotten
egg.
 Feel – talc feels slippery.

B. Chemical Properties
o It shows the presence and arrangement of atoms in minerals.
o Using their chemical properties, minerals are identified by how they react to certain
substances.
 Carbonate Minerals react visibly with acid.
o Using a dilute hydrochloric acid (HCl).
o When a drop of dilute HCl is placed on calcite, it readily bubbles or
effervesces, releasing carbon dioxide.
 Some are toxic like cinnabar. Some is soluble in water like halite.
 Metallic sulfide minerals form into sulfuric acid when exposed to air and water.
 Uranium and thorium are radioactive since it is containing minerals like Autunite
(hydrated calcium uranium phosphate) and Thorianite (thorium dioxide).
 Metals like magnesium are flammable.
 o Cuarto (2016) classified minerals according of their chemical composition using Dana
System which divided minerals into basic classes. This classification shows the chemical
composition of minerals.

Classification of Minerals
1. Native Elements
o These minerals are naturally occurring in nature in an uncombined form with a
distinct mineral structure.
o It can be classified as metal, semi-metals, and non-metals.
o Example is silver.
2. Silicates
o This is the largest group of minerals.
o It contains silicon and oxygen, with some aluminum, magnesium, iron, and
calcium.
o Example is feldspar.
3. Oxides
o It is formed from the combination of a metal with oxygen.
o This group ranges from dull ores (bauxite) to gems (rubies & sapphires).
o Example is magnetite.
4. Sulfides
o These are made of compounds of sulfur with a metal.
o They tend to be heavy and brittle.
o Example is pyrite.
5. Sulfates
o These are made of compounds of sulfur combined with metals and oxygen.
o It is a large group of minerals that tend to be soft, and translucent.
o Example is gypsum (desert rose).
6. Halides
o They form from halogen elements (chlorine, bromine, fluorine, and iodine)
combined with metallic elements.
o They are very soft and easily dissolved in water.
o Example is halite/table salt.
7. Carbonates
o These are group of minerals made of carbon oxygen, and a metallic element.
o Example is dolomite.
8. Phosphate
o They are often formed when other minerals are broken down by weathering.
o They are often brightly colored.
o Example is apatite.
9. Mineraloid
o It is the term used for those substances that do not fit neatly into one of the eight
classes.
o Example is amber.
Classification of Minerals Description Example
Native Elements o These minerals are naturally occurring in Silver
nature with a distinct mineral structure.
o It can be classified as metal, semi-metals,
and non-metals.
Silicates o This is the largest group of minerals. Feldspar
o It contains silicon and oxygen, with some
aluminum, magnesium, iron, and calcium.
Sulfates o These are made of compounds of sulfur Gypsum
combined with metals and oxygen.
o It is a large group of minerals that tend to
be soft, and translucent.
Sulfide o These are made of compounds of sulfur Pyrite
with a metal.
o They tend to be heavy and brittle.
Oxides o It is formed from the combination of a Magnetite
metal with oxygen.
o This group ranges from dull ores to gems.
Halides o They form from halogen elements Halite/ table salt
combined with metallic elements.
o They are very soft and easily dissolved in
water.
Carbonates o These are group of minerals made of Dolomite
carbon oxygen, and a metallic element.
Phosphates o They are often formed when other Apatite
minerals are broken down by
weathering.
o They are often brightly colored.
Mineraloid o It is the term used for those substances that Amber
do not fit neatly into one of the eight
classes.