Compare and contrast the light silicate minerals and dark silicate minerals, and give examples of each

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer: Both are silicate minerals, dominated by the elements silicon and oxygen, arranged in the silicon-oxygen tetrahedron. Light silicates tend to have larger amounts of sharing between their silicon-oxygen tetrahedral, while dark silicates tend to have less sharing (more oxygen atoms for every atom of silicon. Light silicates tend to include sodium and potassium in their crystal structure, while dark silicates tend to include magnesium, iron, or calcium.