🔍 Mineral Properties & Testing
Master the hands-on techniques geologists use to identify minerals in the field and classroom. Learn how to perform scratch tests, streak tests, and observe lustre and colour to distinguish between similar-looking minerals. Understand why different minerals have unique physical properties. **What you'll learn:** - How to safely perform scratch and streak tests on minerals - Why minerals have different hardness, colour, and lustre properties - How to use property tests to identify and compare unknown minerals - The difference between an mineral's colour and its streak
Questions in this quiz
Answers hidden — play to find out.
- Question 1
What is the main purpose of the scratch test when identifying minerals?
- Question 2
A mineral's colour and its streak are always the same.
- Question 3
In a streak test, what do you rub the mineral against?
- Question 4
What does 'lustre' mean when describing a mineral's properties?
- Question 5
Quartz and feldspar are two different minerals, but they can look very similar and require property tests to tell apart.
- Question 6
Why do different minerals have different hardness levels?
- Question 7
Which of the following is a safe way to perform a scratch test on a mineral?
- Question 8
Colour is always the most reliable property to use when identifying a mineral.
- Question 9
What property would help you distinguish between gold and fool's gold (pyrite)?
- Question 10
If a mineral cannot be scratched by a steel nail but scratches the ceramic tile, what can you conclude about its hardness?
- Question 11
Two minerals can have the same colour but different streak colours.
- Question 12
Which mineral property is most directly related to the atoms and crystal structure inside a mineral?
- Question 13
What is an advantage of using the streak test instead of just observing the mineral's colour?
- Question 14
All hard minerals will scratch glass.
- Question 15
When comparing two light-coloured minerals that look very similar, which combination of property tests would give you the most reliable identification?
- Question 16
Why is it important to use a white ceramic tile (not a coloured one) when performing a streak test?
- Question 17
Mineral identification using property tests like scratch, streak, and lustre is a skill that geologists use in the field to identify rocks and minerals quickly.