According to Webster's Dictionary, the definition of a mineral is an inorganic substance. Citrine is one of the most popular minerals. It is a variety of quartz. Citrine is a yellowish-orange mineral. Citrine is a very popular gemstone because it is very affordable and very pretty. Along with topaz, citrine is the birthstone for the month of November and the anniversary gemstone for the 17th year of marriage (www.jewelrymall.com). Citrine is also considered a symbol of hope, youth, health, and fidelity (www.houseofonyx.com). In ancient times, citrine was carried as a protection against snake venom and evil thoughts (www.jewelers.net). Other names for citrine are Imperial Topaz, Oriental Topaz, and Precious Topaz.
             A chemical formula is what elements make up the mineral (Feather & Snyder, 1999). These elements can be found on the periodic table. The chemical formula of citrine is SiO2, which is silicon and oxygen (www.galleries.com).
             According to Webster's Dictionary, a silicate mineral is a combination of silicon, oxygen, and one or more minerals. Because citrine is made up of silicon and oxygen, it is a silicate mineral.
             The properties you can observe without changing a substance into a new substance are physical properties (Feather & Snyder, 1999). The five main physical properties in minerals are hardness, cleavage, fracture, streak and luster.
             Hardness is a measure of how easily a mineral can be scratched. Hardness is usually measured on Mohs hardness scale. The scale is measured from one to ten, with one being the softest and 10 being the hardness (Feather & Snyder, 1999). All kinds of quartz have a hardness of seven. Because citrine is in the quartz family, it has a hardness of seven (www.galleries.com).
             Minerals that break along smooth flat surfaces have cleavage. Cleavage is determined by the arrangement of mineral's atoms (Feather & Snyder, 1999). Citrine has no cleavage, therefore it...