What Mineral Is This?
Upload a photo for an instant AI first guess — then confirm it with the hardness, streak, and luster tests geologists use.
How it works
1. Photograph the mineral
Show a fresh, unweathered surface in natural light so the true color and luster come through.
2. Get an AI first guess
The tool returns likely minerals, the color, luster, and crystal-habit clues it spotted, and a confidence score.
3. Confirm with tests
Run hardness, streak, and cleavage checks to narrow the candidates and rule out look-alikes.
Tips for photographing a mineral
A photo can show color, luster, and crystal habit — the properties AI reads best. It can't show hardness or streak, so plan to test those by hand.
- Photograph a fresh, unweathered face — weathered surfaces mute the real color and luster.
- Capture the luster: note whether it looks metallic, glassy, pearly, or dull.
- Include the crystal habit — cubes, blades, needles, or masses are strong clues.
- Use natural light and avoid flash, which flattens metallic minerals like pyrite and galena.
- Fill the frame with one mineral against a plain background.
- If the specimen is on a rock matrix, get one shot of the mineral alone and one showing the host.
Go deeper with Stone Sense
One free scan is just the start. The Stone Sense app gives you unlimited mineral identifications, a saved collection, an AI geologist chat to talk through hardness and streak results, and badges to build your mineralogy skills.
- Unlimited scans of minerals, rocks, and crystals
- Save each specimen to a personal collection
- Ask an AI geologist about hardness, streak, and cleavage
- Track progress with XP and badges
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a mineral and a rock?+
A mineral is a single naturally occurring solid with a definite chemical composition and ordered crystal structure — quartz, calcite, and pyrite are minerals. A rock is a mixture of minerals; granite is a rock made of quartz, feldspar, and mica. One uniform substance points to a mineral, a mix of grains points to a rock.
How does the Mohs hardness scale help identify a mineral?+
The Mohs scale ranks hardness from 1 (talc) to 10 (diamond). Testing what scratches your specimen brackets its hardness: fingernail ≈ 2.5, copper coin ≈ 3, steel nail ≈ 5.5. If quartz (7) scratches it but it won't scratch quartz, it is softer than 7. Hardness is one of the most diagnostic properties because it is fixed for each mineral.
What is a streak test and what does it tell me?+
Rubbing a mineral on unglazed porcelain reveals the color of its powder — the streak. It is often more reliable than surface color: pyrite streaks greenish-black, hematite streaks red-brown. Quartz and other hard minerals leave no streak because they are harder than the tile. It is especially useful for metallic and dark minerals.
Can AI identify minerals accurately from a photo?+
AI gives a strong first guess for distinctive minerals like pyrite, quartz, and galena. But hardness, streak, cleavage, and specific gravity can't be seen in a photo, and those are what separate look-alikes. Use the AI as an educational starting point and confirm with hands-on tests.
Stone Sense is an educational tool. AI photo identification is a helpful first step, but it is not a substitute for certified mineralogical analysis. Always verify valuable, hazardous, or scientifically important specimens with a qualified professional.