A mineral is an inorganic crystal (element or compound), which was formed without the intervention of humans in nature. A mineral species has an orderly, homogeneous internal structure, chemical composition, crystal shape and physical properties.
Examples: native gold, native iron, native copper, native mercury, quartz, diamond, graphite, etc.
Metals form those chemical elements that are located in the periodic table of elements to the left and below a line of separation of boron to astatine. That's about 80 percent of the chemical elements, the transition to the non-metals on the semimetals is fluid and can make many of these modifications with metallic and atomic bond.
The term is also used for some alloys and intermetallic phases; it applies to all materials which in solid or liquid form, the following four characteristic metallic material properties:
high electrical conductivity, which decreases with increasing temperature,
high thermal conductivity,
Ductility (deformability) and
metallic luster (mirror finish).
All these properties are due to the fact that the cohesion of the relevant atoms takes place with the metallic bond, whose main feature is the free electrons in the lattice.
Examples: gold, iron, copper, tin, chromium, mercury, etc.
Best regards,
Guenter
A mineral is an inorganic crystal (element or compound), which was formed without the intervention of humans in nature. A mineral species has an orderly, homogeneous internal structure, chemical composition, crystal shape and physical properties.
Examples: native gold, native iron, native copper, native mercury, quartz, diamond, graphite, etc.
Metals form those chemical elements that are located in the periodic table of elements to the left and below a line of separation of boron to astatine. That's about 80 percent of the chemical elements, the transition to the non-metals on the semimetals is fluid and can make many of these modifications with metallic and atomic bond.
The term is also used for some alloys and intermetallic phases; it applies to all materials which in solid or liquid form, the following four characteristic metallic material properties:
high electrical conductivity, which decreases with increasing temperature,
high thermal conductivity,
Ductility (deformability) and
metallic luster (mirror finish).
All these properties are due to the fact that the cohesion of the relevant atoms takes place with the metallic bond, whose main feature is the free electrons in the lattice.
Examples: gold, iron, copper, tin, chromium, mercury, etc.
Best regards,
Guenter
Excellent and brief description of difference between minerals and metals- Deep appreciations
Thank you for important informations about comparison of minerals and metals. I have a related question: which one is harder, martesitic steel or garnet (any variation of its compound)?
Thank you for your consideration.
Dear Gizem,
Hardness is different. It is not uniquely defined, and that means there is no unambitious way of measuring it. That's why there are several hardness scales in parallel.
Essentially, there are three types of basic hardness measurement set-ups for minerals like the garnet group and/or for metals like martensitic steel.
1) Vickers hardness for the garnet group => 1,500 – 1,600
2) Vickers hardness for martensitic steel => 900 -- 950
3) Mohs hardness for the garnet group => 7 – 7.5
4) Mohs hardness for martensitic steel => 6.5 -- 7
5) Brinell hardness for the garnet group => 1,400 – 1,500
6) Brinell hardness for martensitic steel => 700 -- 900
The result is clear: in all three hardness tests, the garnet group (the mineral) is harder than the martensitic steel (the metal).
Best regards,
Guenter
• Metal is an element and mineral is a compound.
• Most metals are naturally present as minerals.
• Metals are reactive than minerals.
• Metal and the respective minerals of that metal have different appearances and other properties.
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