SILICATE

Silicate

A silicate is a compound containing an anionic silicon compound. The great majority of silicates are oxides, but hexafluorosilicate and other anions are also included. This article focuses mainly on the Si-O anions. Silicates comprise the majority of the earth's crust, as well as the other terrestrial planets, rocky moons, and asteroids. Sand, Portland cement, and thousands of minerals are examples of silicates. "Orthosilicate" is the anion SiO44- or its compounds. Related to orthosilicate are families of anions with the formula 2+n'>22n-. Important members are the cyclic and single chain silicates ...

The above text is a snippet from Wikipedia: Silicate
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

silicate

Noun

  1. Any salt of silica or of one of the silicic acids; any mineral composed of silicates


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: silicate
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

Need help with a clue?
Try your search in the crossword dictionary!