Question

The tendency of a crystallized mineral to break along certain directions yielding more or less smooth, plane surfaces is ___________

(a) Tenacity

(b) Hardness

(c) Cleavage

(d) Fracture

This question was posed to me in an international level competition.

Enquiry is from Physical Properties topic in division The Study of Minerals of Engineering Geology

Answer 1

The correct choice is (c) Cleavage

The best I can explain: Cleavage is defined as the tendency of a crystallized mineral to break along certain directions yielding more or less smooth, plane surfaces. In other words, cleavage are the planes easiest fractures and are essentially indicative of directions of least cohesion.