Sep 07 2008
Mineral Identification or “I Can Name That Rock in Eight Steps.”
When I was a kid, one of my favorite television shows was Name That Tune. I wasn’t very good at then because I had no idea what half the songs were, but I bet if there were to do a new version of the show I would be awesome at it. Actually, I probably wouldn’t. I’m one of those people who recognize almost any tune, can hum it, maybe even sing the words to it, but I’ll have no idea of what the name of the song is. Still, I loved to watch those contestants bid down on how many notes it would take them to guess the song.
For some reason, this neat website on mineral identification I found reminded me of that old game show. It basically takes you on a step-by-step process of the different things to take into account when trying to identify a mineral. Along the way it gives basic explanations of luster, hardness, streak test, and cleavage. The only limitations is that it assumes you are working with rocks from a kit so not every mineral is included. It’s pretty fun to play around with, though, and it can be adapted to help identify your own minerals despite not having the kit that goes along with the exercise. There’s a game show contest for you. How many things do you have to check before you can name this mineral?
