A MINERAL IS A NATURALLY OCCURRING SUBSTANCE that has a characteristic chemical compositions and specific physical properties, such as habit and streak .A rock,by comparison , is an aggregate of minerals and need not have a specific chemical composition . Minerals are made up of elements (substance that cannot be broken down chemically in to simpler substances), each of which can be represented by a chemical symbol. Minerals can be divided in to two main groups: native elements and compounds. Native elements are made up a pure element. Example include gold(chemical symbol Au), silver (Ag), copper (Cu) and carbon (C) ; carbon occurs as a native element in two forms, diamond and graphite. Compounds are combinations of two or more elements. For example, sulphides are compounds of sulphur (S) and one or more other elements, such as lead (Pb) in the mineral galena, or antimonv (Sb) in the mineral stibnite.
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