What is the difference between silicate and nonsilicate minerals?
The geological process results in the extraction of naturally occurring minerals. These natural minerals occur in the form of silicate and non-silicate.
The discussion provides the core difference between silicate and non-silicate in a tabular form for easier understanding. Let’s jump into the main topic now:
What Is Silicate Minerals?
Silicate minerals occur in abundance in the earth’s surface. They tend to consist of silicon and oxygen atoms.
Silicon can remove outermost electrons to form a four charged ion or share the four electrons to result in a covalent bond.
The chemical formula of silicate is SiO44-. Some common categories of silicates are neosilicates, sorosilicates, cyclosilicate, inosilicates, phyllosilicates , and tectosilicates.
What Is Nonsilicate Minerals?
Nonsilicate minerals are minerals that do not contain silicate groups. These natural minerals have fewer complex structures.
It is classified into six classes such as oxides, sulfides, carbonates, sulfates, halides, and phosphates. These minerals are quite valuable and have wide usage.
Examples of non silicate minerals are gold, platinum, and silver. They are used in the formation of diamonds and rubies among other valuable gems.
Comparison Chart: Silicate Vs Nonsilicate
| Basic Terms | Silicate | Nonsilicate |
| Minerals | These are minerals that contain silicate groups | These are minerals that do not contain silicate group |
| Complexity | Have complex structures | Have less complex structures |
| Different Types | Isolated tetrahedra, chains of tetrahedra, sheets, and framework. | Oxides, sulfides, sulfates, halides, phosphates, and carbonates. |
Core Difference Between Silicate and Nonsilicate Minerals
- Silicates are minerals that contain silicate group while non silicate minerals do not contain silicate group
- Silicate minerals have a complex structure while non silicate mineral has a less complex structure
- Silicate minerals have four different types of classes while non silicate minerals have six different classes.
- Silicate minerals occur in abundance on earth surface while non-silicate occurs in less abundance
- Silicate minerals are rock-forming minerals whereas non silicate are ore minerals
Read More: Difference between BioCarbon and Fossil Carbon
Comparison Video
Summary
The core difference between silicate and nonsilicate minerals is that silicate minerals occur in abundance and have silicate groups while nonsilicate occur in less abundance and do not have silicate groups.