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Lustre (British English) or luster (American English; see spelling differences) is the way light interacts with the surface of a crystal, rock, or mineral. The word traces its origins back to the Latin lux , meaning "light", and generally implies radiance, gloss, or brilliance.
Is the mineral reactive or nonreactive when exposed to other compounds? For example, minerals with calcium carbonate composition typically fizz when exposed to a weak acid. Associated rock type; With what rock type and/or other minerals is this mineral found? Degree of metamorphism and alteration; Mineral shape, properties or form been altered.
Skinner's (2005) definition of a mineral takes this matter into account by stating that a mineral can be crystalline or amorphous. [21] Although biominerals are not the most common form of minerals, [31] they help to define the limits of what constitutes a mineral proper. Nickel's (1995) formal definition explicitly mentioned crystallinity as a ...
In geology, texture or rock microstructure [1] refers to the relationship between the materials of which a rock is composed. [2] The broadest textural classes are crystalline (in which the components are intergrown and interlocking crystals), fragmental (in which there is an accumulation of fragments by some physical process), aphanitic (in which crystals are not visible to the unaided eye ...
Mineralogy applies principles of chemistry, geology, physics and materials science to the study of minerals. Mineralogy [n 1] is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifacts.
The transparent or translucent mineraloid has a globular structure, a vitreous luster, and a white streak. Hyalite is an amorphous form of silica (SiO 2) formed as a volcanic sublimate in volcanic or pegmatic rock and is thereby considered a mineraloid. It contains 3–8% water, either as a silanol group or in molecular form.
It is generally glassy or fine-grained in texture, but may be porphyritic, containing larger mineral crystals (phenocrysts) in an otherwise fine-grained groundmass. The mineral assemblage is predominantly quartz, sanidine, and plagioclase. It is the extrusive equivalent of granite.
Diamond is the hardest known natural mineral. This makes it an excellent abrasive and makes it hold polish and luster extremely well. No known naturally occurring substance can cut or scratch diamond, except another diamond. In diamond form, carbon is one of the costliest elements.