Properties that help geologists identify a mineral in a rock are: color, hardness, luster, crystal forms, density, and cleavage. Crystal form, cleavage, and hardness are determined primarily by the crystal structure at the atomic level. Color and density are determined primarily by the chemical composition.
Minerals can be identified using a number of properties. These include physical and chemical properties such as hardness, density, cleavage and colour, crystallography, electrical conductivity, magnetism, radioactivity and fluorescence.
