Quizzes
silicate structural linkages
The basic structural unit of all silicate minerals is the silicon tetrahedron in which one silicon atom is surrounded by and bonded to (i.e., coordinated with) four oxygen atoms, each at the corner of a regular tetrahedron.
sorosilicate
mineral
Also known as: couplet silicate, pyrosilicate
- Formerly called:
- pyrosilicate
- Related Topics:
- epidote
- zoisite
- melilite
- hemimorphite
- epidote group
sorosilicate, any member of a group of compounds with structures that have two silicate tetrahedrons (each consisting of a central silicon atom surrounded by four oxygen atoms at the corners of a tetrahedron) linked together. Because one oxygen atom is shared by two tetrahedrons, the chemical formula contains Si2O7, as in melilite or hemimorphite.