Properties of Minerals

4th Grade

Concepts
Duration
Visit: 20-30 minutes  Minerals are identified using a set of properties.

 Looking at more than one property is important when identifying

Location
Gem & Mineral Hall
minerals.

Supplies Objectives
 Worksheet
 Students will know that minerals are identified by using different
 Pencil
properties such as color, luster, streak, cleavage, and hardness.
 Clipboard (optional)
 Students will compare and contrast the minerals using their
Standards properties.
Science 4.b
 Students will understand that it necessary to examine more than one
Vocabulary property to identify a mineral.
Mineral
Property Outline
Color
 At the Museum explore minerals and their properties using the
Luster worksheet.
Cleavage
Streak  In the classroom discuss student observations and discoveries and use
them to talk about how properties are used in identification.
Hardness

SECTION
CLOSED

Student Work

1 Properties of Minerals
Background
Minerals can be identified by their color, luster, streak, cleavage, hardness, and even by their chemical
composition. Using these properties is one way a Geologist defines and identifies what kind of mineral a
specimen is.

The museum has 6 wall spaces at the museum dedicated to these specific properties with examples. As
the students learn about properties to identify minerals there are actual specimens for students to
explore. Listed below are definitions of the properties:

 Color is one category but it is not always a good clue to the identity of a mineral. Many minerals
are found in several colors and many minerals have extra chemicals in them that give them an
unexpected color.

 Luster is the way a mineral reflects light. Minerals can be described as metallic, pearly, glassy,
silky, greasy, brilliant, or dull.

 Cleavage is when certain minerals break in a definite way

 Hardness is measured by seeing how easy it is to scratch a mineral.

 Streak is the color a specimen makes by rubbing a mineral across a hard, rough surface like a
bathroom tile.

You may choose to share this information with your students prior to visiting.

Museum Visit
During a trip to the Museum, students will examine the specimens on the wall of the exhibit using the
worksheet. By looking at all the examples in the museum, the students can answer the questions on the
worksheet and will be able to participate in the discussion.

Post-Visit
Back in the classroom, the teacher can lead a whole group discussion on their findings. The students will
discuss the minerals they found and what else they discovered about their properties. For example, they
can tell you that two minerals may have the same color but have a different hardness. The teacher can
begin the discussion of why this happens and why it is necessary to look at more than one property to
identify a mineral. The students can begin to infer that rocks can be identified by using the properties
discovered at the museum.

Variations & Extensions

This introductory lesson can be used to further explore more about the diagnostic properties for minerals.
For example, this lesson can lead into teaching about the Moh’s hardness scale and compare the hardness
of the minerals listed on that scale. Students will learns that the minerals can be scratched by certain
items and that helps to categorize them.

2 Properties of Minerals
 Properties of Minerals
In Gem and Mineral Hall
Observe the displays in the Basics of Mineralogy section, and use them to answer the following questions.

1. Write the definition of the following properties of minerals:

Color:

Streak:

Luster:

Hardness:

Cleavage:

2. List the minerals used to demonstrate each property in the table below:
Color Streak Luster Hardness Cleavage

3. Name three minerals that are used for more than one example, and list the
properties that mineral demonstrates:
Mineral Mineral Mineral
________________________ ________________________ ________________________

Properties Properties Properties

________________________ ________________________ ________________________
________________________ ________________________ ________________________
________________________ ________________________ ________________________
________________________ ________________________ ________________________
3 Properties of Minerals
 4. Using the Venn diagram below, pick 2 minerals to compare and contrast. Name at least three
Properties of Minerals

similarities and three differences between the two minerals.

4 Properties of Minerals
Mineral 1
Mineral 2
___________________________
___________________________