The money minerals
Gold is a bright-yellow metal that looks like sunlight turned to stone.
Silver is a pale-gray metal that looks like frozen moonlight. These two
minerals are so beautiful and hard to find that people have used them
for jewelry and for money for thousands of years.
Gold is found in many places. Usually it is mixed in with other
minerals. But big nuggets and tiny grains of gold have been found in
rivers. They are brought there when streams wash them out of rocks in
the mountains. Pieces of gold have also been found lying on top of the
ground. But most gold is now dug out of mines.
Gold is heavy, but it is so soft it can be hammered into sheets thinner
than tissue paper. Several minerals look so much like gold that people
are often fooled by them. But these other minerals are usually much
harder than gold. They cannot be scratched as easily.
Silver is also found in the earth. Chunks of silver often look like
bunches of twisted wire or feathers. Silver is not shiny like gold—it
is dull gray or black until it is polished. It, too, is very heavy and
soft. When gold or silver is made into jewelry, other metals are added
to make the gold or silver hard.
gold and silver coins
