QuestionQUESTION: How can you tell if you have pyrite or another type of stone? It almost shimmers of silver instead of gold but my husband thinks it is fool's gold? I'm thinking it is something else?
ANSWER: There are variations of pyrite that are silver or shiny grey in color.
Have you done a streak test?
Is the specimen magnetic?
Is is cubic in crystaline pattern?
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QUESTION: What is a "streak test" ?
Thanks,
Sandy
AnswerA streak test is a method of rock identification by reducing it to the finest powder possible and then observing it on a white background.
This is most easily done by making a streak of the speciman across an unglazed piece of porcelan, hense streak test.
Pyrite streaks greenish black.
