My understanding was that metals are just that, elements fron group 1 2 3 of the periodic table. And Minerals are Non-Metals that are solid in the earth. And Ore was a piece of rock containing unrefined metal with minerals surrounding it.
But lately i was confused with what is considered minerals in earth as in if you pick up a rock right now what the hell is that? To me what i understand from research is that different rocks are literally a complex and random combination of many minerals?
Is that true? if not please do correct me
In: Chemistry
A metal are just metals on the periodic table; zinc, iron, tin…etc. A mineral is a broad, catch-all term for an inorganic solid with some sort of crystalline structure, so anything from quartz to talc to diamonds to calcium carbonate. Ore is another nonspecific term that just means rock that contains some substance, usually a metal or mineral, which is useful and we can extract and use. A pile of rocks containing coal is ore, as is a pile of rocks containing gold or iron.
Aha! This is a question of terminology.
“Mineral” does not generally refer to elements from groups 1, 2, and 3. It more commonly is used to just refer to any solid thing in nature, and if you get a little more technical, it refers to anything with additionally a specific chemical composition and crystal structure.
For example, quartz is a mineral. It’s silicon dioxide, SiO2, and has a hexagonal crystal structure.
Obsidian isn’t a mineral though. While it has a relatively consistent chemical composition, it doesn’t have a crystalline structure, instead being a glass. Colloquially we might call it a mineral, but the boffins call it a mineral**oid**.
“Metal” is also rather complicated. We commonly use it to refer to anything shiny and a good conductor of electricity and heat. Different scientific disciplines have different accepted definitions for what a metal is! And the definitions change as we learn more about them as well.
Arsenic, an element that physicists would consider a metal, isn’t treated as such by chemists because it generally doesn’t behave like one.
And hydrogen, an element we don’t normally consider a metal, starts to behave like one under immense pressure.
Funnily enough, metals are often considered minerals! Many of them are found in nature, have a consistent chemical composition, and have a crystal structure.
“Ore” is, thankfully, quite a bit simpler! It generally just refers to any solid stuff you can dig or scoop up, that contains valuable minerals and/or metals. So we mine iron ore in the form of hematite and magnetite, but also mine for beryl and diamond ores.
You mine ores to extract minerals which are generally composed of a mix of one or more metals and non-metals
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