When a mineral breaks in an irregular way, the break is described as:

When a mineral breaks in an irregular way, the break is described as:

• A. Fracture
• B. Cleavage
• C. Luster
• D. Specific gravity

Answer: (A)

When a mineral breaks in an irregular, jagged way, that break is described as fracture. Fracture happens because there isn’t a set of parallel crystal planes that create a smooth, clean break, so the surfaces are uneven or curved. This contrasts with cleavage, where minerals split along flat, smooth planes in the crystal structure. Luster and specific gravity, on the other hand, describe how the mineral looks on the surface and how dense it is, not how it fractures. For example, quartz often shows conchoidal fracture with curved surfaces, illustrating irregular break behavior. So the irregular break is fracture.

When a mineral breaks in an irregular, jagged way, that break is described as fracture. Fracture happens because there isn’t a set of parallel crystal planes that create a smooth, clean break, so the surfaces are uneven or curved. This contrasts with cleavage, where minerals split along flat, smooth planes in the crystal structure. Luster and specific gravity, on the other hand, describe how the mineral looks on the surface and how dense it is, not how it fractures. For example, quartz often shows conchoidal fracture with curved surfaces, illustrating irregular break behavior. So the irregular break is fracture.