This table summarizes the 32 crystal classes by crystal system and class name, including symmetry elements. Clicking on each system or class heading provides information on each class within the system, including axes of rotation, symmetry planes, center, and Hermann-Maugin symbols. There is also an illustration, paper models that can be downloaded, printed and assembled, animated pop-ups that show ... Full description.

This is a collection of images of the common rock-forming minerals. Along with the image, the physical and chemical properties of each mineral are listed. These include: metallic or nonmetallic luster, light or dark color, chemical formula, mineral group, cleavage, general color, hardness, and other characteristics. Full description.

This web site includes almost 200 photomicrographs of rocks and minerals. All photographs are of thin sections ground to .03 mm thickness, in transmitted white light. Some show the appearance of minerals in plane polarized light, but most were taken with crossed polarizers on a petrographic microscope, better to illustrate mineral properties and rock textures. The majority of the pictures show a field ... Full description.

This web site provides interactive quizzes on minerals and mineralogy. Users can select quiz type (multiple choice or fill in the blank), as well as subject type. The subjects covered in this quiz include native metals and sulfides, oxides and hydroxides, evaporites including carbonates, phosphates, and halides, simple silicates including neosilicates, garnets, and alumino-silicates, soro/cyclo-/inosilicates, ... Full description.

This is the web page for an Optical Mineralogy course offered at Brock University. The link to lecture outlines includes information on the properties of light, including electromagnetic radiation, wave front, phase and interference, reflection and refraction and the polarization of light. Other sections include: Refractometry, which includes information on lens effect, internal reflection, and becke ... Full description.

This web page provides graphic examples of the "regular solids" which include the basic cube, the tetrahedron, the octahedron, the dodeahedron, and the buckyball. This site allows the user a three-dimensional interactive view of each figure by dragging the mouse over them. Full description.

This web site provides photos of fluorescent minerals photographed under long wave (LW) or short wave (SW) ultraviolet light. Links to additional resources, and a list of books and information sources are also included. Full description.

This web site provides a tutorial on how to test the hardness of a mineral. The hardness of a mineral is one of the most diagnostic and easy tests to perform in the attempt to identify an unknown mineral. Hardness is a measure of a mineral's resistance to abrasion and reflects the atomic structure of a mineral. A comparative hardness scale is also provided. Full description.

This is the home page for the Mineralogy course at Middlebury College. An assignments section contains information on the physical properties of minerals, crystal symmetry, introduction to the Microscope, calcite experiment, uniaxial minerals, biaxial minerals, framework silicates, chain and ring silicates, scanning electron microscope, di and sheet silicates, ortho silicates, phase diagram calculation, ... Full description.

This web site is geared toward graduate students and other researchers wanting to grow crystals suitable for X-ray structure determinations. Numerous techniques of growing crystals are discussed and include: slow evaporation, slow cooling, variations on slow evaporation and slow cooling, vapor diffusion, solvent diffusion, reactant diffusion, sublimation, convection, co-crystallants, counterions, ... Full description.