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Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Silicate Part 2 - Sorosilicates


After the Neso and Ortho silicates come the Sorosilicates.
These are less in number than the first type of silicon mineral and their crystal structure is a bit more complex. Their structure is more like isolated clusters of double tetrahedra  that attach at the points where they can share an oxygen molecule.

Tanzinite (Ca2Al3(SiO4)(Si2O7)O(OH)) is an example of a Sorosilicate. Not exceedingly interesting but these double tetrehedra are the next step in the silicate family. From here on out the structure gets more complicated quickly.   

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