What Is The Difference Between Cleavage And Fracture

The key difference between cleavage and fracture is that the cleavage is the manner in which a mineral break along its plane of weakness whereas fracture is breakage of a mineral when atomic bonding is perfect and there is no weakness.

On the other hand fracture breaks a mineral along the curved surface with irregular shapes. As a verb fracture is to break or cause something to break. Usually cleaving results in two peices of the same. Cleavage and fracture are two defining characteristics of minerals studied by geologists.

Fracture is breaking something into small fragments similar to fragmentation. Other than breasts cleavage is splitting something into two peices. Cleavage is the way a break happens along a weak plane of the mineral and fracture is the way a break happens along a strong plane of the mineral. These smooth planes are parallel to zones of weak bonding.

Fractures never result in two like pieces rather all at different sizes shapes and angles. In mineralogy cleavage and fracture both describe a tendency of a mineral to break. A cleavage is the resulting smooth plane in a mineral as a crystal face breaks off to form a new crystalline face. The main difference between cleavage and fracture is the characteristic manner in which a mineral breaks when subjected to any form of pressure or stress.

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In cleavage a mineral may split apart along various smooth planes. The difference between a mineral that has cleavage and one that has fracture is that cleavage is the tendency of some minerals to brake along flat surfaces and fracture is the tendency of some. Cleavage breaks off at its plane of weakness it can break off in one two or three directions and can also break off into cubes or octahedrals.