silicate definition of silicate in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

silicate, chemical compound containing silicon, oxygen, and one or more metals, e.g., aluminum, barium, beryllium, calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, sodium, or zirconium. Silicates may be considered chemically as salts of the various silicic acids. For a long time classified as ortho-, meta-, di-, or trisilicates according to the acid from which they are (theoretically) derived, they are now also classified by an X-ray diffraction method according to their crystalline structure. Silicates are widely distributed in nature, making up most of the earth's outer crust. Most of the common rock-forming minerals (e.g., quartz quartz, one of the commonest of all rock-forming minerals and one of the most important constituents of the earth's crust. Chemically, it is silicon dioxide, SiO₂.
..... Click the link for more information. , feldspar feldspar (fĕl`spär, fĕld`–) or felspar
..... Click the link for more information. , mica mica (mī`kə), general term for a large group of minerals, hydrous silicates of aluminum and potassium, often containing magnesium,
..... Click the link for more information. , and pyroxene pyroxene (pī`rŏksēn)
..... Click the link for more information. ) are silicates, as are asbestos asbestos, common name for any of a variety of silicate minerals within the amphibole and serpentine groups that are fibrous in structure and more or less resistant to acid and fire. Chrysotile asbestos, a form of serpentine , is the chief commercial asbestos.
..... Click the link for more information. , beryl beryl (bĕr`ĭl), mineral, a silicate of beryllium and aluminum, Be₃Al₂Si₆O₁₈
..... Click the link for more information. , aquamarine aquamarine (ăk'wəmərēn`, äk'–) [Lat.,=seawater], transparent beryl with a blue or bluish-green color.
..... Click the link for more information. , emerald emerald, the green variety of beryl , of which aquamarine is the blue variety. Chemically, it is a beryllium-aluminum silicate whose color is due to small quantities of chromium compounds.
..... Click the link for more information. , serpentine serpentine (sûr`pəntēn, –tīn), hydrous silicate of magnesium.
..... Click the link for more information. , and talc talc, mineral ranging in color from white through various shades of gray and green to the red and brown of impure specimens, translucent to opaque, and having a greasy, soapy feel.
..... Click the link for more information. . Clay clay, common name for a number of fine-grained, earthy materials that become plastic when wet. Chemically, clays are hydrous aluminum silicates, ordinarily containing impurities, e.g., potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, or iron, in small amounts.
..... Click the link for more information. consists essentially of hydrous aluminum silicates mixed with other substances. Glass glass, hard substance, usually brittle and transparent, composed chiefly of silicates and an alkali fused at high temperature.

Composition and Properties of Glass

..... Click the link for more information. is a mixture of silicates, as is water glass water glass or soluble glass, colorless, transparent, glasslike substance available commercially as a powder or as a transparent, viscous solution in water. Chemically it is sodium silicate , potassium silicate, or a mixture of these.
..... Click the link for more information. . See sodium silicate sodium silicate, any one of several compounds containing sodium oxide, Na₂O, and silica , Si₂O, or a mixture of sodium silicates. Sodium orthosilicate is Na₄SiO₄ (or 2Na₂O·SiO₂
..... Click the link for more information. .

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Composition and Properties of Glass

silicate