Joel A. Bartsch studied at Rice University, where he recieved his PhD in History in 2003. He currently serves as the president and CEO of the Houston Museum of Natural Science Houston. In this role, Joel Bartsch coordinates the curation of different types of antique stones and minerals.
Mineralogy is the aspect of geology that studies different kinds of minerals. Minerals are solid materials with a distinct chemical composition and an ordered atomic structure. Physical mineralogy is a branch of mineralogy.
Physical mineralogy is the study of the physical compositions of minerals. It involves the study of aspects like the texture, color, luster, gravity and streak of minerals.
Luster refers to the disposition of the mineral when light beams on it. A mineral’s streak, on the other hand, refers to the color that it forms when it is grounded into powder. Gravity compares the volume of the mass of the mineral to the mass of a similar volume of water.
