What does a minerals streak tell you?

What does a minerals streak tell you?

What does a mineral’s streak tell you, and how do you test for it? It tells the color of the mineral in powder form. Even if two minerals look, alike their streak is often a different color. You scratch it against a streak plate.

How does the mineral streak contain?

The streak of a mineral is the color of the powder produced when it is dragged across an un-weathered surface. The surface across which the mineral is dragged is called a “streak plate”, and is generally made of unglazed porcelain tile.

What is the streak property of a mineral?

Streak is the color of the powdered mineral, which is usually more useful for identification than the color of the whole mineral sample. Rubbing the mineral on a streak plate will produce a streak. A streak plate can be made from the unglazed back side of a white porcelain bathroom or kitchen tile.

What is the physical properties of streak?

Streak is the color of a mineral’s powder. Streak is a more reliable property than color because streak does not vary. Minerals that are the same color may have a different colored streak.

What are the properties of a mineral streak?

MINERAL PROPERTIES: STREAK. Streak is the color of a crushed mineral’s powder. The color of a mineral’s powder may differ from the actual color of the mineral.

How can you tell the color of a mineral?

The streak test is most useful for identifying dark colored minerals, especially metals. When testing for streak, the mineral must be crushed to determine the color of its powder. The color of the powder is the color of the streak.

Which is the best way to test for minerals?

A streak plate is an unglazed piece of porcelain, such as the underside of a ceramic tile. This is the most popular method of streak testing, since the color of the streak plate is white, the color of the mineral trace is easy to see. For minerals that are harder than the streak plate, this test cannot be used,…

What to do if your mineral test has no streak?

White powder from a previous test can give you a false result for a mineral with no streak. When your streak plate gets dirty, you can clean it with cleaning products meant for porcelain sinks. Comet and Soft Scrub work very well.