Streak of a mineral

 

Streak of a mineral

The streak is the colour of a mineral when it is finely powdered. You can easily test a mineral's streak.

Simply scrape the mineral across the back of a white kitchen tile. The mark that is left on the tile is the streak.

 

 

malachite black ground

 

 

About this resource

Science topic: Minerals

Key Stage: KS2, KS3

Type: Information

Keywords: minerals, streak of a mineral, mineral properties

Click on the tiles and find out more about each streak
 

https://view.genial.ly/60c9b0cbd402780dd05c7b0d

 

Even if a mineral can be different colours, its streak will always be the same. This makes streak a particularly useful tool for identifying minerals.

Look at the example below. Both the specimens are a mineral called hematite. The one on the left is made up of metallic grey crystals. The one on the right is a dark red colour with a rounded shape. They look very different but they both have the same brownish red streak.

Learn about other properties of minerals