Mineral Properties

Chemical composition is a chemical property, while color, hardness, and cleavage are physical properties.

Cleavage refers to the tendency of a mineral to break along specific planes of weakness.

Halite, also known as rock salt, exhibits perfect cubic cleavage, meaning it breaks into cube-shaped fragments.

Luster refers to the way a mineral's surface reflects light.

Galena, a lead sulfide mineral, exhibits a metallic luster, meaning it reflects light like a metal.

Hardness refers to the resistance of a mineral to being scratched by another mineral.

Diamond is the hardest mineral on the Mohs scale, with a hardness of 10.

The streak of a mineral refers to the color of the powder it produces when rubbed against a streak plate.

Quartz, a common rock-forming mineral, has a white streak.

Specific gravity, also known as density, refers to the ratio of the mass of a mineral to the mass of an equal volume of water.

Galena, a lead sulfide mineral, has a high specific gravity due to its high density.

Effervescence refers to the bubbling or fizzing that occurs when a mineral reacts with hydrochloric acid.

Calcite, a carbonate mineral, reacts with hydrochloric acid to produce carbon dioxide gas, causing effervescence.

Magnetic susceptibility refers to the degree to which a mineral is attracted or repelled by a magnet.

Magnetite, an iron oxide mineral, is strongly attracted to magnets due to its high magnetic susceptibility.