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Silicates
Silicates are minerals or materials made of oxygen and silicon. Generally, due to their physical structure, silicates have a crystallized form. Some common examples of silicates are perlite, quartz, jadeite and willemite. Since there are so many different types of silicates, scientists classify them into a number of groups, including orthosilicates, the simplest silicates, to amphiboles, double-chained complex silicates. Today, approximately 30 percent of the world's minerals are some type of silicates. As much as 90 percent of the earth's crust is made of silicates.
Perlite and Its Uses
When slightly modified, perlite's characteristics make it ideal for use in a number of commercial industries. In construction, perlite is used for insulation in projects heavily focused on masonry. In agriculture, farmers introduce perlite into soils, which in turn allows their plants to hold more water. Higher water retention allows crops to grow more efficiently. Perlite is often used as filler for high-quality plastics, as a type of filter in the pharmaceutical industry and as a component for different types of cleaning products.
Expanded Perlite and Physical Reactions to Create It
Unlike other volcanic rock, perlite expands drastically when heated at temperature above 1600 degrees Fahrenheit. With the introduction of small concentrations of water and this extreme heat, perlite swells to almost 20 times its original size and then explodes into a number of small bubbles. This process creates expanded perlite. When manufactured, expanded perlite's density is as low as 2 pounds per cubic foot. Expanded perlite's lightweight feature makes it extremely popular in a number of commercial industries.
Physical Properties of Perlite
The most obvious feature of expanded perlite is its bright white color, in extreme contrast to the dull, gray color of perlite in rock form. Being a silicate, expanded perlite is primarily composed of silicon and oxygen. Other components of perlite include aluminum, potassium, sodium and iron. Water is typically found in perlite at rates between 2 percent and 6 percent of the total mass. Perlite is extremely similar to traditional glass and, therefore, is extremely inert, meaning it is not generally reactive. Its similarities to glass also give it a pH around 7, the same value as distilled water. Perlite is highly soluble only in hot, concentrated alkali. In water or weak acids, perlite is barely soluble.