Write down the major physical characteristics …

Followings are the physical characteristics of minerals:

(i)External crystal form — determined by internal arrangement of the molecules — cubes, octahedrons, hexagonal prisms, etc.

(ii)Cleavage — tendency to break in given directions producing relatively plane surfaces — result of internal arrangement of the molecules — may cleave in one or more directions and at any angle to each other.

(iii)Fracture — internal molecular arrangement so complex there are no planes of molecules; the crystal will break in an irregular manner, not along planes of cleavage.

(iv)Lustre — appearance of a material without regard to colour; each mineral has a distinctive lustre like metallic, silky, glossy etc.

(v)Colour — some minerals have characteristic colour determined by their molecular structure — malachite, azurite, chalcopyrite etc., and some minerals are coloured by impurities. For example, because of impurities quartz may be white, green, red, yellow etc.

Followings are the physical characteristics of minerals:

(i)External crystal form — determined by internal arrangement of the molecules — cubes, octahedrons, hexagonal prisms, etc.

(ii)Cleavage — tendency to break in given directions producing relatively plane surfaces — result of internal arrangement of the molecules — may cleave in one or more directions and at any angle to each other.

(iii)Fracture — internal molecular arrangement so complex there are no planes of molecules; the crystal will break in an irregular manner, not along planes of cleavage.

(iv)Lustre — appearance of a material without regard to colour; each mineral has a distinctive lustre like metallic, silky, glossy etc.

(v)Colour — some minerals have characteristic colour determined by their molecular structure — malachite, azurite, chalcopyrite etc., and some minerals are coloured by impurities. For example, because of impurities quartz may be white, green, red, yellow etc.