A mineral containing silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, in which four oxygen atoms surround each silicon atom.

a mineral or rock with a predominant composition that includes silicon and oxygen.

Material, such as sand, that is composed of a metal, oxygen, and silicon.

Mineral or rock composed of silicate molecules (silicon and hydrogen).

a term used to described a number of compound containing silicon, oxygen, and one or more metals.

A negatively charged ion containing silicon and oxygen, usually SiO3-2, Si2O7-6, and Si3O7-2. A compound containing positively charged metal ions combined with negatively charged ions made of silicon and oxygen.

Rocky material consisting, in part, of the elements silicon and oxygen. Most rocks on the surface of the Earth (such as sandstones, granites, rhyolites, and basalts) are silicate materials. (In contrast, metal that is separated from silicates during planetary differentiation lacks oxygen and contains very little, if any, silicon.)

Refers to the chemical unit silicon tetroxide, SiO4, the fundamental building block of silicate minerals. Silicate minerals make up most rocks we see at the Earth's surface.

A silica-rich igneous rock or magma, e.g., granite and rhyolite.

insoluble metal salt with silicon and oxygen in its anion; silicates with the addition of quartz describe the chemical group of minerals which make up most of the Earth's crust.

compound containing silicon and oxygen (i.e. sand).

Minerals whose composition include silicon and oxygen in various ratios. Carbon forms the greatest number of different molecules with other elements and forms the basis of all living matter. Silica has many properties in common with carbon in terms of combining with other elements, and in combining with oxygen and other elements forms the second most numerous group of molecules. Silicon is to the inorganic (mineral) world, much as carbon is to the organic world. The vast majority of all minerals in terms of numbers and types are silicates.

(sil´-i-cate) A compound whose crystal structure contains SiO4 tetrahedra, either isolated or joined through one or more of the oxygen atoms to form groups, chains, sheets, or three-dimensional structures with metallic elements. Silicates are classified according to crystal structure.

an object composed mostly of the element silicon, which makes rocks.

A salt or ester derived from a silicic acid: any of numerous insoluble often complex metal salts that contain silicon and oxygen in the anion, constitute the largest class of minerals.

A rock or mineral whose structure is dominated by bonds of silicon and oxygen atoms (ie. olivine).

mineral formed from silica and oxygen. The majority of rock forming minerals are silicates. Examples are quartz and pyroxene.

Any of a large group of minerals, forming over 90 percent of the earth's crust, that consist of silicon, oxygen, and one or more metals, (and sometimes hydrogen).

a compound containing silicon with oxygen and a metal; a salt or silicic acid. Silicates constitute the greater number of the minerals that compose the crust of the earth. Mica, garnet, talc, asbestos, and feldspar are silicates. [AHDOS