Classifying Minerals

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What characteristics can we use to classify minerals?

49 Responses

  1. Megan says:

    There are many characteristics of minerals. Luster or how it shines or sparkles, fracture how it breaks, its color, its density or how tough it is, and its streak or what is the color of the mineral when it is in powder.

    • Megan says:

      I claim that there are many characteristics to classifying minerals and telling which minerals are which. My evidence is there are eight ways to classifying minerals. There is smell, color, luster that describes the surface of the mineral, cleavage how the mineral is broken or does it have flat surfaces and look geometric or jaggedy with some flat surfaces, magnetism or does the mineral react with to a magnet, streak or the color of the powder after scraping a sample on a streak plate, hardness how dense is the mineral we use the Mohs scale to see what the hardness is, and chemical reactivity does the mineral fiz if a chemical is poured on it. All of those ways can help you classify a mineral. Sometimes minerals are really hard to classify minerals if you don’t have a book to help you with.

  2. david says:

    Some ways of describing minerals are the Mohs scale of hardness, luster, crystal size and color, crystal shape, smell, and streak color.

  3. Emily says:

    There are many characteristics like dullness, crystal size, smell, color, density size, shape and fracture.

    • Emily says:

      I claim there are many characteristics like dullness, crystal size, smell, color, density size, shape, and fracture. My evidence is when you try and identify a mineral you need to find all these things so you can find the name of it.

  4. Isabelle says:

    There are many characteristics of rocks. Some are shiny, dull, shape size, some have holes in them some don’t. Some are colorful some aren’t the density or how tough it is, and the grain size. And Luster.

  5. neal says:

    The Mineral’s shape, size, color and density all make it a different type of Mineral some rocks are crstl some are not vary see thrw. The shape of the Mineral also can make it a different tip some can nor be made in some form that uther tips of rocks can be in.

    • neal says:

      I claim this information because I know that minerals to tell them apart is that they have different shape color size and smell. You can also tell the difference between them because their streak color will be different their hardness also tells you the minerals tip. The way you can tell the difference is that you scrape it on glass and if it does it will be harder than a six a nail has a hardness of five. You can also tell the different from the minerals if they have magnetism which it will have some metal in it.

  6. Olivia says:

    Some characteristics on how you could identify minerals or how its colored, or shaped maybe sized too. I also think you could see how it reacts to different things, or see what it’s like when it turns into powder when you break it.

  7. caitlynn says:

    Some ways of classifying minerals are the Mohs scale of hardness, and possibly luster, crystal size and color, as well as crystal shape, smell, and streak color. Also in how they have formed

    • caitlynn says:

      I claim that you can classify minerals. My evidence is Streak. …Luster. (The way light reflects off the rock). Cleavage and fracture. …Density. (the weight of the rock).Hardness. (The Mohs scale) The outside texture. Special properties, color, as well as crystal shape, smell, Also in how they have formed. and magnetism.

  8. Sarah says:

    My claim is that minerals can be classified by their hardness, shape, the size of crystals, fractures and breaks, how they have formed, and the colors.

  9. Isaac says:

    In minerals, you can define some by shineyness or sparkles, the hardness, the luster, and shape and color, and probably a lot of other things.

  10. Vera says:

    I think that there are a lot of ways you can classify them by. Maybe you could use the hardness, the streak it makes, color, how it feels, and where it is on the hardness scale.

    • Vera says:

      I claim that there are many ways to classify minerals, a few ways you can do it is by testing the smell, color, luster, cleavage, magnetism, streak, and hardness. My evidence is that when we were testing our minerals we were using all of these things. Those are just a few ways you can do it.

  11. Hailey says:

    I think that minerals are classified by their shape, size, dullness, chemical composition, density, color, roughness, smoothness, fractures, breaks, luster, and its streak.

    • Hailey says:

      There are many different ways to classify minerals. You classify them by their smell, like if it smells earthy, rotten eggs, sweet, or salty. Minerals can be also classified by their color or luster which is if its glassy, chalky, or metallic. Another important way to classify minerals is by cleavage which is how the minerals break. There are three different cleavages, Perfect which is if it has flat surfaces and parallel lines, Imperfect which is flat surface but has no parallel lines. The last cleavage is none which means no flat surfaces or parallel lines. Magnetism is another important way, it shows if the rock is magnet or not. A minerals streak is also significant, a streak is the color of the powder after a sample is rubbed against streak plate. How hard the rock or mineral it is also good to know. Hardness is when a rock or minerals runs against something it should show a scratch if its stronger than that material and if it doesn’t then it’s not stronger then that material. For example a two would be a fingernail’s strength, a four would be a penny, a five would be a steel nail, a six would be glass, and of course, a ten would be a diamond. The last way to identify a mineral is how it reacts to a chemical. In conclusion, these are the ways you can classify a mineral.

  12. alex says:

    I claim that minerals are classified by their shape, their color, the color streak they make,how luster they are, and how smooth they are, what they’re made of and their chemical makeup
    how strong they are and how rough they are so in conclusion minerals rock… see what i did there rock ya you get it because rocks have minerals in them… i’m just bored see ya monday 🙂

  13. Nevaeh says:

    I claim that rocks and minerals are classified by using color and shape, my evidence is the ways we did it was smelling them which was pretty weird along with size color and shape which then helped us look in the book and use the description to match up the minerals to the ones that seemed right.

  14. Raven says:

    When we classified our minerals we classified them in seven different categories the first being the smell of the rock this can either be a sour or earthy or even a rotten egg kind of smell then the second the is the color, this is where you have to be very descriptive about the mineral. The next is the luster so what this means is basically describe the surface of the mineral is it glassy, chalky, metallic or waxy. The forth is cleavage or how it’s broken so like is it perfect with parallel lines and smooth surfaces or is it imperfect with no distinct planes but has smooth surfaces or is it none no parallel lines or smooth surfaces. The fifth is magnetism so is it magnetic or not the sixth is the streak so what is the color of the powder left behind from the mineral when it is scratch on a board then the last is the hardness of the minerals this is measured in the Mohs Scale from 1-10 1 being the softest and 10 being the hardest examples is a fingernail is a 2 on the scale and a penny is a 4 a steel nail is a 5 and glass is 6 and those are some ways we classified our minerals.

  15. Dante says:

    There are many characteristics of rock. Luster can show how shiny and the the color of it like black or brown. The smell it could smell earthy or sour. The cleavage it can be perfect that has parallel lines and smooth surfaces or imperfect there are no distinct planes and smooth surfaces.

  16. Trey says:

    To classify minerals we can look at a few different characteristics. First we can smell it, next we can look at the color. After that we can look at the luster and the cleavage of the mineral. Next we can check if the mineral is magnetic. The color of the streak of the mineral can help you tell as well. Then you can calculate the hardness and then check for a chemical reaction. Finally we can determine the type of mineral it is.

  17. alec says:

    I claim that there are many characteristics that we can use to identify minerals. My evidence is that we can tell minerals apart by smell, color, luster, cleavage, magnetism, streak, hardness, and the mineal’s name. I can describe olivine by it having no smell, green with yellow tint, and the luster is dull, it’s cleavage was imperfect alonge with no magnetism, the streak was yellow, and it’s hardness is a 6+.Luster means what the mineral’s look like.cleavage means how a sample is broken.The hardness is usually used in the Mohs scale, which is how hard something is EX 2 is fingernail, 4 is a penny, 5 is a steel nail, 6 is glass, 10 is diamond.

  18. Jestin says:

    The tools we used to identify a mineral are as follows, a magnifying glass, a nail, a pane of glass A streak and some others. We used those characteristics to figure out a mineral. This how we found the mineral, we smelt it, Wrote the color if the mineral, The Luster of it, Cleavage, Magnetism, Streak, Hardness then we figured out the mineral name. It was a long process of 5 minutes to find the mineral name so I say this was pretty easy.

  19. Damian says:

    I claim that the classification is determined on the appearance and details physically on the mineral. My evidence is that the appearance of the mineral can help as well as the characteristics to determine the mineral. The smell, luster, cleavage, color, and hardness can almost completely classify the mineral at hand. The smell can determine the area the mineral was found in, the luster, hardness, and cleavage can determine how long and how the mineral was made, and the color can determine the terrain.

    • Damian says:

      I claim that the characteristics and appearance of the mineral can classify the minerals. My evidence is the smell, luster, cleavage, color, and hardness are the characteristics that can determine the mineral. The time that the mineral was found is determined by the luster, hardness, and cleavage. The color and smell can determine the area the mineral was made in and where the mineral was found in that area.

  20. Kylie says:

    I claim that I can identify minerals using the following characteristics. Smell, I sniffed it and decided if it had a smell, like metallic. Color, I looked through a magnifying glass and decided what color it was. Luster, describes how if looks like shiny or dull. Cleavage, can be imperfect (jagged) or perfect (straight lines). Magnetism, I used a magnet to determine if it was magnetic or not. Streak, I streaked on the streak board. If it left a mark it was black or white. Hardness, I used a penny, nail and piece of glass to scratch the rock. If the rock didn’t scratch it was a 6-7 plus. If it scratched easily it was a 4 or lower. I was able to name the mineral by using all that information and looking in the book for the Mineral name.

  21. Mason says:

    to classify minerals we need its color, smell (sometimes), how it feels, and hardness and then you can make a not purfect but close perdection on what rock type and its name it is

  22. matt says:

    I claim there are many ways to classify rocks. My evidence is that there are eight different ways to classify rocks. The eight ways are by the smell, color, luster, cleavage, magnetism, streak color, hardness on the Moh’s scale, and chemical reactivity.

  23. veronica says:

    To classify minerals we can test different characteristics of it. Such as what color it is, how hard it is, if it is magnetic, and so forth.

    • veronica says:

      I claim that you can use many techniques to classify a mineral. My evidence is there are 7 different ways that we used to classify the minerals, we used smell, depending on if there is no smell, or if it has an earthy smell, or smells like rotten egg we can use that information to classify what kind of mineral it is. The second thing is color, you have to be very descriptive, three luster is it glassy, is it chalky. The fourth thing we were looking for was cleavage,how does the mineral break, fifth magnetism, does it react to a magnet? Sixth streak, color of powder after sample is rubbed on streak plate. And seven hardness, how hard is it, using the Mohs scale. The other kind of identification that we didn’t use was chemical reactivity.

  24. Makya says:

    I think minerals can be classified by look, touch, and smell.

  25. michael says:

    there are many rocks like shiny rocks or chalky rocks just many types of rocks but they way they look is only one thing there’s another thing like smelling the rock of the way it feels. Many things can identify rocks. The smell, luster, hardness and the cleavage are gonna help identify the rock and how and long it was made.

  26. Sarah says:

    My claim is to classify minerals we use their smell, color to identify what they are made up of, luster to see if they are chalky or glassy, cleavage to see how they broke, magnetism, streak, hardness to see what could break them or what they could break, and its chemical reaction. They are different from rocks because they are pure or not mixed minerals and are just what they were originally.

  27. pamela says:

    There are a lot of characteristics to classify rocks. Such as luster and hardness. There is also the color of the rock and what color the dust is.

    • pamela says:

      I claim that there are many different characteristics to classify minerals. My evidence is that there are eight different characteristics to classify minerals. Smell and the color I think are the easiest ones to figure out. Luster is the surface of the rock sample. The cleavage is how the mineral breaks and if there are flat surfaces and parallel lines. There is magnetism, seeing of the rock is magnetic. The streak is the color of the powder after the sample is rubbed on a steak plate. A rocks hardness can be determined by scratching the rock on tools that determine the hardness of the rock. The last is chemical reactivity.

  28. Makya says:

    I claim that you can be classified by the smell it might smell earthy, rotten eggs, and sweet. You can classify them by color and luster. Luster meaning glassy, chalky, and metallic. Also by cleavage being perfect having flat surfaces and parallel lines, imperfect has no parallel lines or neither. If it’s magnetic or not and hardness.

  29. Kendra says:

    Minerals can be identified by the smell, color, luster, cleavage, magnetism, streak and hardness. Smell is what it smells like, and the color is the color the mineral is. Cleavage is how it is fractured it could be perfect, imperfect, or doesn’t have a cleavage. Luster is how it looks and feels examples are: shiny, glossy, glassy, smooth, rough, and metallic. Magnetism is just if it sticks to a magnet or not. Streak is the color of the powder when it is rubbed against an item. Hardness is to see how hard it is.

  30. Duran says:

    I claim that there are 8 characteristics that we can use to classify minerals, I will name them. There is smell, the rocks we looked had different smells like copper. Color, all of the rocks had different colors, we had black, green, and an unusual one that was semi-transparent. Luster, the surface of the rock that we got, like glassy, metallic, or chalky. Cleavage, how the minerals broke, there is perfect cleavage with flat surfaces and parallel lines, imperfect cleavage, with flat surfaces but no parallel lines, and no cleavage at all with no flat surfaces, and no parallel lines. Magnetism, to see if the rocks are magnetic. Streak, to see the color of the powder left by the rock after you rub it on a streak plate. Hardness, where we got a penny, a nail, and glass to scratch a rock on it to see how hard it was on Moh’s scale. When we did all of that we got a book on rocks and minerals to see what the name of the minerals.

  31. adrianna says:

    minerals all have different shapes, sizes, colors, luster, and density but it all makes it some kind of a different type of Mineral but some rocks are crystal some aren’t very see-through and are cloudy. The shape of a Mineral also makes it different types of minerals, but some can also be made in some form that other types of rocks can or can’t be in.

  32. olivia says:

    I claim that there are many characteristics to classifying minerals. My evidence is there are eight ways to classifying minerals. There is smell, color, luster that describes the surface of the mineral, cleavage how the mineral is broken or does it have flat surfaces and look geometric or some different and flat surfaces, magnetism or does the mineral react with to a magnet, streak or the color of the powder after scraping a sample on a streak plate, hardness how dense is the mineral we use the Mohs scale to see what the hardness is, and when you pour chemicals onto it it fizzes up.

  33. adrianna says:

    I claim that you can use many different types of techniques to identify or classify a mineral. My evidence is that there are 8 different ways we used in class such as smell, to determine what kind of mineral it is. You can use the colo, you have to be precise and descriptive to determine what kind of mineral it is based on its color. The luster can be chalky, glassy, or something. The cleavage is how the mineral breaks it could be imperfect, perfect, or can have none. For magnetism, it helps determine if it reacts to a magnet so then it would have some kind of metal in it. The streak determines the color of the powder the mineral left on the streak plate. The hardness was determined by using the Mohs scale 1.being a fingernail, 2. A penny, 5. A steel nail, 6. A piece of glass. We didn’t use the last identification which was chemical reactivity which could be used to determine what kind of chemicals the mineral reacts to.

  34. Carlos says:

    I claim that you identify minerals by there look.

  35. Carlos says:

    I claim that there are many ways to identify minerals. My evidence is that on our identifying sheet it showed many ways such as how it smells, it’s streak, its cleavage, its color, if it’s magnetic, if it has a chemical reaction, its luster, and hardness.

  36. ryan says:

    I claim that there are many characteristics to classifying minerals. My evidence is the smell, color, luster, cleavage, magnetism, streak markings, hardness, and chemical reactions define the rocks.

  37. Caden says:

    All minerals are different some may look similar some may be completely different but there are certain characteristics that set them all apart. Some characteristics of minerals we could use to classify them are color, geometric shape, density, and clarity.

    • Caden says:

      I claim that minerals are characterized by their color, magnetism, luster, streak, cleavage, smell, hardness, and chemical reactivity. My evidence is that many minerals have unique color, magnetism, luster, streak, cleavage, smell, hardness, and chemical reactivity we also used all of these besides chemical reactivity to identify minerals.

  38. alex says:

    I claim that minerals are classified by how luster they are how they react to chemicals what color they are,the color streak they make what kind of cleavage they have how they smell what their density is we didn’t do this but how they taste we also didn’t do how they react to chemicals we did do if they are or aren’t magnetic my evidence for this is the worksheet you gave us the classifying minerals thing. 😉

  39. Amadeo says:

    I claim that we use characteristics such as smell, color, luster (surface description), cleavage (How it’s broken), magnetism, streak (color of streak left after scraped on streak plate), hardness, and chemical reactivity to identify minerals. My evidence is that these are the characteristics we use to identify minerals in our investigation.

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