Mineralogy Review

Flashcards for vocabulary and key concepts related to mineralogy and properties of minerals.

James Dwight Dana

A Yale professor known for publishing 'System of Mineralogy' in 1838 and 'Manual of Mineralogy' in 1848.

Color Factors in Minerals

Factors influencing color include essential elements, minor chemical impurities, physical defects, and the presence of finely-spaced structures.

Mohs Hardness Scale

A scale ranking minerals based on their ability to scratch one another, introduced by Friedrich Mohs in 1812.

Luster

Describes how a mineral's surface reflects light and how the interior may refract light.

Cleavage

The characteristic pattern of breaking along specific planes in a mineral.

Fracture

The irregular pattern of breaking in a mineral that does not occur along cleavage planes.

Crystal Systems

Minerals are classified into systems such as Isometric, Tetragonal, Orthorhombic, etc., based on their atomic arrangement.

Streak

The color of a powdered mineral, often examined by rubbing the mineral on a ceramic plate.

Special Properties of Minerals

Unique characteristics such as taste, odor, tenacity, magnetism, and effervescence with dilute HCl.

Mineral Identification Properties

Key properties include color, streak, luster, hardness, cleavage, and special properties used to identify minerals.

Isometric System

A crystal system characterized by equal dimensions in three axes, forming shapes like cubes and octahedrons.

Tetragonal System

A crystal system where one axis is different in length from the other two, leading to prism-shaped crystals.

Trigonal System

A crystal system characterized by a three-fold axis of symmetry, leading to forms like rhombohedrons.

Acicular

A crystal habit characterized by needle-like forms.

Dipyramid

A crystal form where two pyramids are joined at their bases.

Twinned Crystal

A crystal that has two or more orientations, resulting from a specific growth process.