These tools help you identify minerals! The tools include hand lenses (lower left), a penny for testing hardness (center), a streak plate (lower right), and an identification guidebook (top).
Click on image for full size
Windows to the Universe
Make Your Own Mineral Identification Kit!
Stick these things into a small bag and take them wherever you go hunting for minerals.
- A hand lens lets you look closely at small mineral crystals or fossils.
- A small, white porcelain plate is used for a streak test.
- A penny and a small glass plate are useful for testing hardness.
- Kits with minerals that are labeled with their names can be handy. Compare minerals that you find to minerals in the kit.
- Printouts of the examples of crystal shapes from Windows to the
Universe (or see if your book has similar pictures) allow you to identify
crystal shapes of minerals.
- Bring a pad and a pencil to write down where you find minerals.
- A book about rocks and minerals that has nice color pictures and language that you understand
Last modified March 13, 2003 by Lisa Gardiner.
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