3: Mineral Properties
- Page ID
- 17512
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3.1 Calcite crystals on purple-blue fluorite. From the Annabel Lee Mine, Cave-in-Rock Mining District, southern Illinois, USA
KEY CONCEPTS
- Mineral names derive from mineral appearance, composition, provenance, and many other things. Many are named after well-known mineralogists.
- A mineral’s common appearance (its habit) includes both crystal shape and the way that multiple mineral crystals may grow together.
- Mineral crystals have shapes related to the arrangements of atoms within them.
- We typically use physical properties such as luster, color, diaphaneity, crystal shape, streak, hardness, and cleavage to identify and distinguish different minerals.
- Other properties, including magnetism and reaction to hydrochloric acid are sometimes diagnostic.