| Aluminum | Al |
| Barium | Ba |
| Beryllium | Be |
| Boron | B |
| Calcium | Ca |
| Carbon | C |
| Cerium | Ce |
| Chlorine | Cl |
| Copper | Cu |
| Fluorine | F |
| [Gold] | Au |
| Hydrogen | H |
| Iron | Fe |
| Lead | Pb |
| Magnesium | Mg |
| Manganese | Mn |
| Mercury | Hg |
| Molybdenum | Mo |
| Oxygen | O |
| Potassium | K |
| Silicon | Si |
| Silver | Ag |
| Sodium | Na |
| Strontium | Sr |
| [Sulfur] | S |
| Thorium | Th |
| Tin | Sn |
| Uranium | U |
| Vanadium | V |
| Yttrium | Y |
| Zinc | Zn |
| Zirconium | Zr |
We can compare the chemical [elements] to the letters of our alphabet. The letters, like the chemical elements, are fundamental building blocks, and they can be brought together in various combinations to form words.
Minerals
A mineral can be compared to a word of our language. We combine letters to form a word, and nature combines certain chemical [elements] to form each particular mineral. For example, [calcite], a mineral that is abundant in Texas, is always made up of the same proportions of the same three elements: calcium, carbon, and oxygen.
A mineral is made up of chemical [elements]. The mineral [calcite], for example, always consists of the same proportions of calcium, carbon, and oxygen.
Each mineral has its own characteristic internal structure and other properties. At ordinary temperatures, nearly all the minerals are solids rather than gases or liquids. (Water and mercury are the principal exceptions.) In addition, minerals are inorganic rather than being composed of plant or animal matter.
When a single chemical [element] is found alone in nature as a solid, it is considered to be a mineral, too. [Gold], silver, copper, lead, and [sulfur] are some of the chemical elements that can occur alone as solid minerals. When they occur this way, we refer to them as native silver, native copper, or native sulfur. Although the element mercury is a liquid rather than a solid at ordinary temperatures, it too is a mineral when it occurs alone in nature. It is then called native mercury.
Rocks
We have already compared the chemical [elements] to the alphabet and the minerals to words. We can now go a step further and compare rocks to sentences. We put words together to make sentences; nature puts minerals together to make rocks. A sentence does not have to be made up of a definite number of words, nor does a rock have to be made up of a definite number of minerals. Some rocks, such as [granite], may be composed of several minerals. Others, such as [dolomite] and rock [gypsum], consist of only one mineral.