What is a mineral?

What is a mineral?
Minerals are non-living, solids, and are made up of elements. There are over 3,000-4,000 of them.

How is a mineral different than a rock?
A mineral is different to a rock because minerals are inorganic naturally occurring substances, have a definite range of chemical composition, are solids, and have a crystalline structure but rocks are made up of 2 or more minerals

What are crystals and how are they made?
Crystals are solids that form by a regular repeated pattern of molecules connecting together. In crystals, however, a collection of atoms called the Unit Cell is repeated in exactly the same arrangement over and over throughout the entire material.

What is the relationship between a mineral and a crystal?
The relationship between a mineral and a crystal is that when minerals form into the special shapes we recognize as crystals. This happens when, if minerals are able to form freely in a hole or cavity in the surrounding rock the mineral takes the form of a crystal and these crystals lined cavities are called geodes, vugs or pockets.

How are minerals different from each other?
Minerals are different from each other because minerals are formed in nature. And each of them are chemically different, which makes them have different effects, or do different things.

How are minerals used? What is an ore?
Minerals are useful and used in many ways. Coal, lead, silver, steel, copper, and gold are all minerals and they help us make different things like the telephone, houses, and many other things.
An ore is a type of rock that contains minerals such as gemstones and metals that can be extracted through mining and refined for use.