The mineral property directly related to the number of covalent bonds versus the number of ionic bonds is hardness.
1. Hardness of a mineral is a measure of how easily it can be scratched. The presence of covalent bonds in a mineral usually makes it harder compared to minerals with mostly ionic bonds.
2. Covalent bonds are strong and involve the sharing of electrons between atoms, making the mineral structure more resistant to scratching.
3. On the other hand, minerals with more ionic bonds tend to be softer because ionic bonds are relatively weaker than covalent bonds.
Therefore, when comparing the number of covalent bonds to the number of ionic bonds in a mineral, hardness is the property that is directly influenced by this ratio.
