Question

You're doing a little weekend prospecting in the California foothills and you notice a shiny stone in a shallow creek bed. How would you go about identifying it and it's value?

Answer 1

Luster refers to a characteristic, which helps in finding how the mineral reflects light. It gives an indication that how shiny the mineral is. The two prime ways by which the geologists classify the luster of a mineral is by differentiating it into non-metallic and metallic minerals.

The luster of a mineral differs enormously from a sample to a sample. The metallic minerals shine like metal, while the non-metallic mineral differs very much in their look. There are various distinct demonstrations of non-metallic luster. Some of these are earthy, pearly, glassy, and greasy.

Greasy luster appears like a mineral, which is covered with grease, pearly luster is iridescent, that is, glows like a pearl. The earthy luster minerals exhibit a dull appearance with no shine, and the minerals of glassy luster appear like fragments of a broken glass bottle.

Answer 2

Step-by-step explanation:

Stones have minerals in it which reflects light. Luster is the property that gives the idea about the reflection of light by the minerals. i.e., how brightly they shine.

To identify the luster of a mineral or a metal, geologists first divides the stone to be either metallic luster (opaque and shiny) or non-metallic luster (fails to appear like metals). The minerals in the stone is identified by mineralogy database. It can also be identified by minerals class or name.