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Silver

What is it and where is it formed? Native silver is the purest kind of silver. Native silver is a metal with nothing else added to it. Most silver is found in an ore combined with a mineral. It can be found in igneous and sedimentary ore like galena. It is formed in veins of rock that have hot water flowing around and through them.
How and where is it mined? Silver is mined using underground mining. Most of the time, silver is found in ore. The miner's goal might not be to find silver, but to mine copper, lead, or zinc. Native Silver is found by itself. Silver has to be taken out of the ore. First it is crushed, heated until it melts, combined with something else, and then it have chemicals injected into it that finally separate it. Silver is mined in in Michigan, Nevada, and Arizona; Canada, Chile, Peru, Mexico, and Germany.
What is it used for? Silver is used to make money, jewelry, photography, mirrors, batteries, silverware, and medical equipment. Because it is so bendable, it can be made into wires or shaped.
Interesting Information:
- There are different kinds of silver. Pure silver is 100% pure. Sterling is 92.5% pure. Britannia is about 95% pure.
- Silver conducts heat and electricity very well.
- Even though it isn’t as valuable as gold, there were Silver Rushes in the Old West.

Mineral Characteristic	What the mineralogists say	Kid's Guide: What it REALLY means!
Chemical Symbol	Ag	It is on the Periodic Table of the Elements. This means that it is the purest form of silver and is not mixed with anything else.
Color	White or dull gray	This metal is a silvery white color unless it tarnishes. Tarnishing is when silver changes from silvery white to a dark gray or black because it has come in contact with air.
Streak	Light silvery gray	If you crush silver, its dust will always be a light, silvery gray.
Transparency	Opaque	You can’t see through it and light won’t go through it.
Luster	Metallic	It shines like glass.
Cleavage	None	It does not break evenly each time it is broken.
Fracture	Jagged	When it shatters or breaks, the pieces are sharp and pointy. The pieces aren’t smooth.
Magnetism	None	Will not attract, or be attracted to, a magnet.
Hardness	2.5 - 3	It is a soft metal that can be bent into shapes easily.
Specific gravity	10 - 12	It is a heavy metal.
Crystal Shape	Cubic