Mineral properties are characteristics that help identify and classify minerals. These properties include color, luster, hardness, streak, and cleavage. Color refers to the appearance of the mineral, while luster describes how light reflects off its surface. Hardness measures a mineral's resistance to scratching, often assessed using the Mohs scale. Other important properties include streak, which is the color of the powder left when a mineral is scratched on a porcelain plate, and cleavage, which describes how a mineral breaks along specific planes. Understanding these properties is essential for geologists and mineralogists in their studies of Earth's materials.