Although most people think of color as an important characteristic of a specimen, it is not very useful in identifying a mineral.
- color is one of the physical properties most commonly used to describe minerals,
but it is not a very good property to use to identify minerals
- some minerals are nearly always the same color like azurite (blue) and sulfur (yellow)
- many minerals come in a variety of colors - the changes are caused by
slight chemical impurities or through exposure to heat
- color can change when the surface is exposed to moisture & air - it tarnishes or oxidizes
- some minerals have common names (varietal names) that describe a specimen
with a certain color
eg. Quartz - rock crystal (colorless), smoky quartz (brown), citrine (yellow), amethyst (violet),
rose quartz (pink)
- color can be described as metallic or non-metallic and is often described along with
luster though they are 2 different characteristics
- rocks are often distinctive or named because of a certain color which occurs because of
their mineral content
