File:Muscovite mica showing flexibility.jpg
Original file (1,439 × 1,125 pixels, file size: 1.28 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)
Captions
Captions
Summary
[edit]
| Description |
English: A mineral is a naturally-occurring, solid, inorganic, crystalline substance having a fairly definite chemical composition and having fairly definite physical properties. At its simplest, a mineral is a naturally-occurring solid chemical. Currently, there are over 5600 named and described minerals - about 200 of them are common and about 20 of them are very common. Mineral classification is based on anion chemistry. Major categories of minerals are: elements, sulfides, oxides, halides, carbonates, sulfates, phosphates, and silicates.
The silicates are the most abundant and chemically complex group of minerals. All silicates have silica as the basis for their chemistry. "Silica" refers to SiO2 chemistry. The fundamental molecular unit of silica is one small silicon atom surrounded by four large oxygen atoms in the shape of a triangular pyramid - this is the silica tetrahedron - SiO4. Each oxygen atom is shared by two silicon atoms, so only half of the four oxygens "belong" to each silicon. The resulting formula for silica is thus SiO2, not SiO4. Muscovite mica is a common phyllosilicate with the formula KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 - potassium hydroxy-aluminosilicate. It has a nonmetallic luster, a hardness of about 2, forms hexagonal crystals, and has one perfect cleavage. Muscovite mica can be peeled into ultrathin sheets, which is a consequence of its cleavage. Thin cleavage sheets are noticeably flexible (elastic) - see this photo. Thicker pieces of muscovite are grayish-colored. Thin sheets are clear/colorless. Photo gallery of muscovite mica: www.mindat.org/gallery.php?min=2815 |
| Date | |
| Source | https://www.flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/50370203767/ |
| Author | James St. John |
Licensing
[edit]
- You are free:
- to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work
- to remix – to adapt the work
- Under the following conditions:
- attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
|
This image was originally posted to Flickr by James St. John at https://flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/50370203767. It was reviewed on 9 October 2020 by FlickreviewR 2 and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0. |
File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
| Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| current | 14:26, 9 October 2020 | | 1,439 × 1,125 (1.28 MB) | Ser Amantio di Nicolao (talk | contribs) | Uploaded a work by James St. John from https://www.flickr.com/photos/47445767@N05/50370203767/ with UploadWizard |
You cannot overwrite this file.
File usage on Commons
There are no pages that use this file.
