What is a mineral?

  Jose Campos age 9, of Chula Vista California,  : Gold water and salt are minerals, These substances seem so different that you wonder what they have in common. They have enough in common to be classed as minerals. First, none of these substances are alive or ever were alive or part of any living creature. A mineral must be an inorganic, or non‑living substance occurring in nature.

A mineral may be a metal such as gold, tin or iron. It may be a non‑metal such as sand, borax or lava. Almost all the rocks and stones and pebbles are minerals. So are the veins of silver and nuggets of copper in the ground. Strictly speaking coal is not mineral. After all it is formed from trees that once lived.

Most of the minerals are solids at ordinary temperatures. Heats of course turns gold and iron to liquids and finally to vapors, There are„ however, two minerals that are liquid at ordinary temperatures, Liquid water and liquid mercury are minerals, Mercury is one of those minerals which is also a metal.