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In which type of silicate does each tetrahedron share three of its oxygen atoms with other tetrahedra and the remaining oxygen atoms bond with aluminum or magnesium atoms?

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Final answer:

The type of silicate where each tetrahedron shares three oxygen atoms with others and the remaining oxygen bonds with aluminum or magnesium is an aluminosilicate, part of a larger group of silicate compounds with connected silicate tetrahedra.

Step-by-step explanation:

The type of silicate in which each tetrahedron shares three of its oxygen atoms with other tetrahedra, with the remaining oxygen atoms bonding with aluminum or magnesium atoms, is part of a larger group of silicate compounds. These silicate compounds are known for containing silicon-oxygen bonds, with the silicate tetrahedra connected in various structures like rings, sheets, or three-dimensional frameworks.

In silicate minerals, the basic building block is the silica tetrahedron, which is a combination of four oxygen atoms and one silicon atom forming a structure with a net negative charge due to the imbalance between the positive charge of the silicon ion and the negative charge of the oxygen ions. These tetrahedra can be linked in different ways, leading to diversities in the silicon-to-oxygen ratio. When one oxygen atom is shared by three tetrahedra, it results in a specific structure of silicate minerals.

Silicate minerals that fit this description include those where the aluminum or magnesium atoms are coordinated with the unshared oxygen, as seen in the formation of the mineral aluminosilicates.

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