MINERALSA mineral is a naturally occurring substance

that is solid and stable at room temperature, representable by a chemical formula,  It is different from a rock,  and does not have a specific chemical composition.

DIFFERENT TYPES OF MINERALS

PROPERTIES OF MINERAL

Physical properties

Optical properties

Chemical properties

PICTURE OF MINERALS

Optical use

Physical use

Chemical use

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MINERALS

Hardness

Colour

Streak Cleavage

Fracture

Luster Specific gravity

Tenacity

HARDNESS AND COLOURHardness-The hardness of a mineral defines

how much it can resist scratching. This physical property is controlled by the chemical composition and crystalline structure of a mineral.

Colour-Colour is the most obvious property of a mineral, but it is often non-diagnostic.It is caused by electromagnetic radiation interacting with electrons.

STREAK AND LUSTERStreak-When minerals are scratched, the

powder that is made by the scratch is called the streak.

Luster-Luster is a description of the way a mineral surface looks when light reflects off of the surface.

CLEAVAGE AND FRACTURE • Cleavage and fracture are descriptions

of how a mineral breaks into pieces. Cleavage describes how a mineral breaks into flat surfaces (usually one, two, three or four surfaces). Fracture describes how a mineral breaks into forms or shapes other than flat surfaces.

SPECIFIC GRAVITYSpecific gravity-Specific Gravity is a measure

of the density of a mineral compared to the density of an equal volume of water.

Tenacity-The behaviour of a mineral towards the forces that tend to break,bend,cut,or crush it is described by the term tenacity.

OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF MINERALS

Light

Ordinary light

Polarised light

Refractive index

Dispersion

Total reflection

Double refraction

Birefringence

Isotropic substance