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Is color the best physical characteristic for mineral identification?
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Specimen color is the least reliable method of mineral identification. Better characteristics are streak, density, and crystal structure.
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
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What is the least reliable physical property for mineral identification?
Color
Why is the color or a mineral not a reliabe physical characteristic?
The same mineral can come in a variety of colors and different minerals can be the same color.
Why can't color alone be used identify most minerals?
Many minerals have similar color, and mineral color can be altered by trace amounts of impurities or by weathering. A better indicator would be the mineral's streak, which is the color of the mineral when powdered, although this characteristic can't be used alone in mineral identification.
Why can't color alone be use to identify most minerals?
Many minerals have similar color, and mineral color can be altered by trace amounts of impurities or by weathering. A better indicator would be the mineral's streak, which is the color of the mineral when powdered, although this characteristic can't be used alone in mineral identification.
How reliable is color when determining what a mineral is?
Color is the least reliable of a mineral's characteristics used in its identification.
What is the powdered form of the mineral?
The powder indicates the true color of the mineral and is an aid in mineral identification. That can also be called a streak.
What is the least reliable mineral identification property?
Color.
What is the most unreliable characteristic of a mineral?
Color, due to the effects of impurities, is the least reliable identifying mineral characteristic.
Why are streak plates used to test minerails?
Scratching a mineral across a streak plate will result in a streak which represents the true color of a mineral without impurities or inclusions that can influence a particular specimen's color. The mineral quartz can appear in a wide variety of colors, but the streak of any colored quartz specimen will still be white. The 'streak' color is one characteristic of a mineral which will aid in its identification.
What is the color of a mineral in powdered form know as?
The powder indicates the true color of the mineral and mineral identification. That is also known as streak.
A sometimes misleading characteristic when identifying a mineral?
color
Which mineral properties are most useful for identification?
Hardness and streak color are very important. The color of the mineral helps some, as well.
