Zirconolite

The place where the mineral was first found and described — by convention, the reference point for the species.

Resistance to being scratched, ranked on the Mohs scale from 1 (talc, marked by a fingernail) to 10 (diamond, scratches everything below it). The classic field test.

Whether and how much light passes through a mineral, from transparent (you can see through it) to translucent, then opaque.

The hue of the mineral itself. Often unreliable for identification — many species occur in several colours depending on trace impurities or radiation damage.

The colour of a mineral's powder, drawn by scraping it across an unglazed porcelain plate. Far more consistent than surface colour.

How a mineral resists breaking, bending, or crushing. Brittle snaps cleanly, malleable hammers into sheets, sectile slices like soft metal.

The tendency to split along flat planes that match the crystal's atomic structure. Described by quality (perfect, good, poor) and direction.

The shape of a broken surface that doesn't follow cleavage — conchoidal (curved, like broken glass), uneven, hackly, or splintery.

Mass per unit volume, in grams per cubic centimetre. A useful sorting tool: barite is twice as dense as quartz at the same size.

Whether the mineral is isotropic (light travels at one speed in all directions, like in glass) or anisotropic — uniaxial or biaxial. Defines which optical tests apply.

How sharply a grain stands out against the mounting medium (Canada balsam, n ≈ 1.54) under the petrographic microscope. Low relief means the grain almost dissolves into the slide; very high relief gives crisp, almost three-dimensional outlines.

The refractive indices measured along the crystal's principal optical axes — nω and nε for uniaxial minerals, nα, nβ, and nγ for biaxial.

How strongly the refractive indices vary across the visible spectrum. Strong dispersion gives gemstones their 'fire'.

One of seven geometric families that describe a mineral's atomic symmetry: isometric (cubic), tetragonal, hexagonal, trigonal, orthorhombic, monoclinic, triclinic. Two non-crystalline classes — amorphous and icosahedral — also appear.

A once-crystalline mineral whose internal lattice has been destroyed by long-term radiation damage from trace uranium or thorium — still crystal-shaped on the outside, glass-like within.

Two or more crystals of the same species grown in a fixed symmetric relationship, sharing a plane or axis. Often visible as re-entrant angles.

Chemical elements that make up the mineral's ideal formula, listed by atomic symbol with their share of the total mass.