What mineral can you identify by taste

Good examples include hematite always red-brown no matter what form it's in and chromite distinguished from the hundreds of other black minerals by its chocolate-brown streak. Hardness: Hardness is the resistance of a mineral to scratching. It does NOT refer to how easily the mineral is broken. Hardness is a measure of the bonding strength between atoms. If these bonds are strong, the mineral is not easily scratched.

Minerals with weaker bonds are more easily scratched. Pencil "lead" is softer than paper, so it writes. Try writing with a steel-tipped pencil and you'll see what I mean: now the pencil rips the paper. This is clearly related to the relative hardness of each substance. Hardness in minerals can vary due to impurities, but is usually diagnostic. We determine the relative hardness of minerals using a scale devised by mineralogist Friedrich Mohs.

The scale assigns hardness to ten common index minerals, and is based upon the ability of one mineral to scratch another. Since few of us carry these index minerals around in our pockets, we can use more common articles to get a rough estimate of hardness.

Breakage pattern: How a mineral breaks is determined by its internal structure, and is therefore very important and nearly always diagnostic.

Unfortunately, it can also be the hardest to determine sorry. There are two 2 major subdivisions: fracture and cleavage. Fracture: The mineral just breaks, leaving an uneven surface. Most are irregular but there are some special cases ex: the conchoidal fractures common to quartz and glass. Cleavage: The mineral splits along closely spaces parallel planes, leaving a mirror surface which will flash at you if rotated in the light.

Pale to dark Green, almost black, may be other colors, but rarely. Usually as aggregates of foliated flakes, may be in more compact masses of fine scales. Flakes or scales flexible, Difficult to distinguish between these two end members though clinochlore tends to be the more common. Perfect in one direction, imperfect in one direction, good in one direction prismatic.

Usually as thin crusts, granular to powdery, massive, or columnar, may be in silky tufts or delicate acicular crystals. White to Grey, darker when impure, may be Greenish. Geasy feel, may be difficult to distinguish from talc. Perfect in one direction, good in two directions prismatic. Colorless to White or Grey may be stained other colors by impurities. May be in compact masses without cleavage "alabaster" , fibrous masses "satin spar" or prismatic crystals, often twinned "selenite".

Crystals of the selenite variety are usually clear, other varieties are usually milky. Colorless to White may be stained by impurities. A mineral's streak will remain consistent, despite any differences in observable color.

Transparency To determine a specimen's transparency, simply place an object behind it. If the object's outline can be clearly observed through your specimen, then it is transparent. If the object cannot be seen through your specimen, try using a flashlight to shine light through your specimen — if the light is transmitted to the other side, then your specimen is translucent. If the light is not transmitted, your specimen is opaque.

Cleavage By striking your specimen, and observing the manner in which it splits, you'll determine its cleavage, or tendency to break in a particular direction. Cleavage is defined by the pattern of a specimen's atomic lattice, with breaks occurring parallel to planes of growth. This can help you identify a mineral's structural habit, and provide insight into its composition.

Noticing the ease of cleavage, and the number and orientation of breaks, will provide further insight. Hardness Mineral hardness can be measured on Mohs scale, which applies a value of , based on the relative hardness of specimens ranging between talc 1 , and diamond To determine the value of your specimen, you can compare its hardness to household items of known value, via a simple scratch test.

Density Relative density of an object is equivalent to mass divided by volume. A simple way to determine the specific gravity of a mineral is to divide its mass by that of an equivalent volume of water.