silicate
Mineralogy. any of the largest group of mineral compounds, as quartz, beryl, garnet, feldspar, mica, and various kinds of clay, consisting of SiO2 or SiO4 groupings and one or more metallic ions, with some forms containing hydrogen. Silicates constitute well over 90 percent of the rock-forming minerals of the earth's crust.
Chemistry. any salt derived from the silicic acids or from silica.
Origin of silicate
1Other words from silicate
- sil·i·ca·tion [sil-i-key-shuhn], /ˌsɪl ɪˈkeɪ ʃən/, noun
- non·sil·i·cate, noun
- sub·sil·i·cate, noun
Words Nearby silicate
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use silicate in a sentence
Inside the diamond is a newly identified silicate mineral dubbed davemaoite that can only have formed in Earth’s lower mantle, researchers report November 12 in Science.
A mineral found in a diamond’s flaws contains the source of some of Earth’s heat | Carolyn Gramling | November 11, 2021 | Science NewsThe rock was made of common silicates like other asteroids, but they were common only in their general composition, not in their infrared signature, which remained stubbornly off.
We had been developing techniques to identify individual millimeter-size silicate crystals that contain only very small iron grains and have ideal recording properties.
New Study Suggests Moon Lacked a Magnetic Field for Nearly All Its History | John Tarduno | August 8, 2021 | Singularity HubA number of scientists and nonprofits have also researched the possibility of accelerating the processes by which various minerals—particularly those rich in silicate, calcium, and magnesium—pull carbon dioxide out of air or rainwater.
A startup using minerals to draw down CO2 has scored funding—and its first buyer | James Temple | May 26, 2021 | MIT Technology ReviewOur Goldilocks climate largely results from chemical reactions between carbon dioxide in the air and silicate minerals, which slowly reduces the level of the greenhouse gas in the atmosphere by burying it in sediments.
Scientists Pin Down When Earth’s Crust Cracked, Then Came to Life | Howard Lee | March 25, 2021 | Quanta Magazine
In this case, silicate in the ash melts as it hits the hot turbines of the engine and shuts it down.
Volcanic Ash: The Extraordinary Air Travel Emergency | Clive Irving | April 15, 2010 | THE DAILY BEASTHe seemed to recall a state of lush, sybaritic softness, in pre-silicate times.
Old Friends Are the Best | Jack SharkeyBut there is no reason why, in these cases, the lead so employed should not be in the form of a fritted double silicate.
Soda-glass consists primarily of silicate of sodium with smaller quantities of silicate of aluminum and potassium.
A Handbook of Laboratory Glass-Blowing | Bernard D. BolasA good method for the preservation of eggs is the use of sodium silicate, or water glass.
A Little Preserving Book for a Little Girl | Amy WatermanThe well-known water-glass is a silicate of soda or potash dissolved in free or caustic soda, or potash.
British Dictionary definitions for silicate
/ (ˈsɪlɪkɪt, -ˌkeɪt) /
a salt or ester of silicic acid, esp one of a large number of usually insoluble salts with polymeric negative ions having a structure formed of tetrahedrons of SiO 4 groups linked in rings, chains, sheets, or three dimensional frameworks. Silicates constitute a large proportion of the earth's minerals and are present in cement and glass
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for silicate
[ sĭl′ĭ-kāt′ ]
Any of a large class of chemical compounds composed of silicon, oxygen, and at least one metal. Most rocks and minerals are silicates.
Any mineral containing the group SiO4, either isolated, or joined to other groups in chains, sheets, or three-dimensional groups with metal elements. Micas and feldspars are silicate minerals.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Browse