ROHINI COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
UNIT II
MINERALOGY
2.1 PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MINERALS
Physical properties of minerals – Quartz group, Feldspar group, Pyroxene –
hypersthenes and augite, Amphibole – hornblende, Mica – muscovite and biotite,
Calcite, Gypsum and Clay minerals.
Mineralogy is a branch of geology that deals with the formation, physical,
chemical, optical and engineering properties of minerals.
They have specific sub branches such as
Crystallography
Optical mineralogy
Descriptive mineralogy
A naturally occurring inorganic solid that has a definite chemical composition
and / or crystal structure.
It is more or less homogeneous defined chemical composition and definite atomic
structure.
Naturally forming solid.
Inorganically formed.
E.g.:-
i. Ice is a mineral but water is not. → Solid
ii. Mercury and petroleum. → liquid
More than 2500 minerals on earth crust.
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States of Mineral:-
o Crystal
o Crystalline
o Amorphous
Their colour, streak, hardness, cleavage, crystal form, specific gravity and lust generally
identify minerals. The symmetry elements are:
i) Plane of symmetry
ii) Axis of symmetry
iii) Centre of Symmetry
Formation and Composition
• Minerals come from cooled magma
• 2500 kinds of minerals; some are easy to find and others are rare.
Formation of Minerals:-
Minerals are formed by anyone of the following processes.
1. Solidification→ cooling from hot and molten material.
Solidification → from gases state.
2. Metamorphism → change of composition due to temperature, chemical.
3. Precipitation and evaporation → under favorable temperature.
Physical Properties of Minerals:-
These are diagnostic from identification in the fields.
1. Colour
2. Streak
3. Lusture
4. Hardness
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5. Cleavage
6. Fracture
7. Tenacity
8. Special gravity
9. Form/Structure
10.Odour
11.Fluorescence
12.Phosphorescence
13.Magnetism
14.Habit
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1. Colour :-
• Colour of the mineral is due to the absorption and reflection of light.
• Any minerals that appear white will absorb and reflect all the seven colours of
the light.
• Any minerals that appear black will absorb all colours, but reflect none of the
colours of light.
2. Streak:-
• The colour of mineral powder is called as streak.
• The streak may or may not be the same as that of the mineral’s colour
• Color of powder scraped off when it is rubbed against a hard, rough surface
• Streak may be a different color than the mineral itself.
Eg:-
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3. Lusture :-
Lusture is defined as the shining efficiency of a mineral, due to the intensity of
light from its surface.
• The natural reflection of surface.
• The light absorption capacity of mineral.
• The refractive index of minerals.
• The way a mineral reflects light from its surface
Non-metallic luster:
– Don’t have much of a reflection; known as glassy, pearly, and dull
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Different types of lusture:-
4. Hardness:-
Hardness of a mineral is defined as the resistance against external force of the
mineral.
Hardness is a diagnostic and qualitative property of minerals.
Scale of hardness popularly known as Moh’s scale.
• The ability to resist being scratched
• Most useful properties for identifying a mineral
• Numbered1-10.
– 1-Talc-softest
– 10-Diamond- hardest
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Moh’s scale of hardness:-
In the scale, the higher hardness minerals will scratch lower hardness
minerals .i.e. Diamond will scratch all the nine minerals, but talc will scratch none of
the other minerals.
5. Cleavage:-
Cleavage is defined as the direction along which a mineral tends to break with
smooth and plane surfaces.
It is the plane of weakness with least cohesion.
Cleavage is a diagnostic property of minerals.
Types of cleavage:-
i. Cubic cleavage: (.E.g.) Galena, Halite
ii. Rhombohedral cleavage: (.E.g.) Calcite
iii. Basal cleavage: (E.g.) Mica
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iv. Prismatic cleavage: (E.g.) Natrolite
Further, cleavage of a mineral may be in 1 direction, 2 direction or 3 directions.
(E.g.)
1. Directional cleavage: Mica
2. Directional cleavage: feldspar
3. Directional cleavage: Calcite
6. Fracture:-
Fracture is defined as the appearance of broken surface of a mineral in a direction
other than the cleavage direction.
7. Tenacity:-
Tenacity is defined as the resistance of mineral to any external forces that tend
to break, bend, cut, crush, or deform it.
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8. Specific Gravity:
Where‘d’ = Density of water = 1
9. Form & Structure:-
i. Form:
The internal atomic structure of mineral and the external geometrical shapes
together constitute of that mineral.
Types:-
1. Crystal: When both internal atomic structure and external geometric forms are
perfectly present
e.g.: calcite
2. Crystalline: External geometric form may or may not be present but internal
atomic structure is present
e.g.: Quartz
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3. Amorphous: Both external geometric formed and internal atomic structure are
lacking
e.g.: Obsidian. It is also called powder form.
ii. Structure:-
The physical appearance of mineral in terms of its shape is referred as its structure.
1. Acicular : Needle like crystal (e.g.) Natrolite
2. Bladed :Blade like (eg) Kyanite
3. Botryoidal :Resembling bunch of grapes (eg) Psilomelane
4. Columnar :Column like (eg) Beryl
5. Foliated :Paper thin sheets like easy separable (eg) Mica
6. Fibrous :Made up of fibres (eg) Asbestos, Gypsum
7. Radiating : Needle like fibrous crystal, radiating from a common centre (eg)
Iron pyrites
8. Reni form : Kidney shaped aggregates (eg) Hematite
9. Tabular :Flattened – Table like(eg)Calcite, Barite, Feldspar
10.Lamellar : Thick leaf like sheets (eg) Vermiculite
11.Granular :Densely packed small grains (eg) Chromite
12.Mammillary : Rounded grains, overlapping in arrangement (e.g.) Malachite
10.Special properties:-
i. Magnetism
Some minerals are naturally magnetic ink character
a. Strongly Magnetic (eg) Magnetite
b. Feebly Magnetic Slightly Magnetic (eg) Spinel
c. Non – Magnetic (eg) Quartz, Calcite
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ii. Electricity(Pyroelectricity and Piezoelectricity):
1. Pyroelectric: Minerals producing electric charge when heat applied, are called
Pyroelectric (eg) Quartz, Tourmaline
2. Piezoelectricity: When Pressure applied certain minerals will glow (eg) fluorite.
iii. Fluorescence: When exposed to sun’s radiation, certain minerals will glow (eg)
Fluorite.
iv. Phosphorescence: Some minerals continue to glow even when bringing to the
dark room after exposure to sun’s radiation (eg) diamond
Magnetite: Naturally magnetic
Halite: Tastessalty
Sulfur: Smells like rotten egg
v. Fusibility: It refers temperature of fusion.
vi. Transparency : It refers transmission of light of minerals
vii. Translucency: Partial transmission of light through a mineral.
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viii. Opaque: No transmission of light through a mineral. (eg) Agate.
Uses of Minerals:-
• Minerals are raw materials used for a wide variety of products from dyes to
dishes and from table salt to televisions
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