1. 1-2 Identifying Minerals 1.Classify Minerals using common mineral identification techniques. 2.Explain special properties of minerals.

2. Color Color is not the best factor to use in identifying a mineral. Impurities and weathering cause minerals to come in different colors.

3. Luster – The way lights reflects off a mineral’s surface. Metallic – shiny like metal Sub-metallic – shiny but not smooth looking. Non-metallic – vitreous, silky, resinous, waxy, pearly, and earthy.

4. Streak – the color of a mineral in powdered form. Rub a mineral against an unglazed porcelain tile (streak plate) Streak color is a more reliable way to use color in identifying a mineral in some cases.

5. Cleavage Vs Fracture Cleavage is the tendency for some minerals to break along flat surfaces. Fracture is the tendency for some minerals to break unevenly along curved or irregular surfaces.

7. Hardness – a mineral’s resistance to being scratched. Use Moh’s hardness scale where 1 is softest and 10 is hardest.

8. Density – The measure of how much matter there is in a given amount of space. D = m/v Water is 1g/cm 3 Specific gravity – the ratio of a mineral’s density to water’s Gold is 19

9. Special Properties Fluorescence – minerals glow under a black light. Chemical Reaction – reacts with acid Optical properties – when looking through a mineral the appearance changes Taste – mineral has a distinctive taste. Magnetism – mineral will attract iron objects. Radioactivity – minerals that contain uranium or radium can be detected with a Geiger counter