Whats the Difference Between Rocks, Crystals, and Minerals?
Is a mineral a crystal or is a crystal a mineral? Rocks, crystals, and minerals. What’s the difference? Before explaining the differences between minerals, crystals, and rocks, you need to know the difference between an element and a compound. What is an element? A group of atoms of the same kind form an element. The elements are listed on the periodic table, and you’ve heard of some of them: gold, silver, copper, sulfur, oxygen, and carbon. The chemical formula for an element is just the element. The most common elements in the earth’s crust are: O for Oxygen (about 47%), Si for Silicon (about 28%), Al for Aluminum (about 8%), Fe for Iron (about 5%), Ca for Calcium, Na for Sodium, K for potassium, and Mg for magnesium. What is a compound? Compounds, on the other hand, are made up of molecules that have different kinds of elements in them. For example, table salt has sodium (Na) and Chlorine (Cl) in it. Sodium chloride is a molecule, and a bunch of sodium chloride molecules together ar
