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 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.
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 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 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.
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.
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