MICA GROUP GEO101 1P

CUISON, Gustavo Miguel M

 MICA GROUP
Group of related aluminum silicate minerals that are soft and
have perfect basal cleavage, which allows individual members
to be "peeled".
Latin micare - to flash or glisten in allusion to the material's
appearance.
Mica minerals are an essential constituents of various igneous
rocks, such as granite, metamorphic rocks and igneous rocks.
 MICA GROUP
Micas are fairly light and relatively soft, and the sheets and
flakes of mica are flexible.
Mica is heat-resistant and does not conduct electricity. 
There are 37 different mica minerals. The most common
include:
purple lepidolite, black biotite, brown phlogopite and clear
muscovite
MICA GROUP
Silicate mineral: Phyllosilicates

Color:
purple, rosy, silver, gray (lepidolite);
dark green, brown, black (biotite);
yellowish-brown, green white (phlogopite);
colorless, transparent (muscovite)

Luster: pearly to vitreous

MICA GROUP
Chemical formula:
General formula
XY2 – 3Z4O10 (OH, F)2

X = K, Na, Ba, Ca, Cs, (H3O), (NH4)

Y = Al, Mg, Fe2+, Li, Cr, Mn, V, Zn
Z = Si, Al, Fe3+, Be, Ti
MICA GROUP
Crystal System: Monoclinic

Structure:
Micas have sheet structures whose
basic units consist of two
polymerized sheets of silica (SiO4)
tetrahedrons.
MICA GROUP Structure:
Two such sheets are juxtaposed with
the vertices of their tetrahedrons
pointing toward each other; the
sheets are cross-linked with cations
and hydroxyl pairs complete the
coordination of these cations.
Aluminum in muscovite
MICA GROUP Structure:
Thus, the cross-linked double layer is
bound firmly, has the bases of silica
tetrahedrons on both of its outer
sides, and has a negative charge.

The charge is balanced by singly

charged large cations that join the
cross-linked double layers to form the
complete structure.
Potassium in muscovite
MICA GROUP Structure:
The differences among mica species
depend upon differences in the X and
Y cations.
MICA GROUP
Mohs Hardness:
2.5-4 lepidolite;
2.5-3 biotite;
2.5-3 phlogopite;
2-2.5 muscovite
 ORIGIN Flake Mica Mining:
The flake mica comes from sources such as the
Economic deposits of muscovite mica metamorphic rock called schist as a by-product
containing large crystals of these of processing feldspar and kaolin resources, from
minerals are only found in granitic or placer deposits, and from pegmatites.
acidic pegmatites intruding mica schists.
Sheet Mica Mining:
Sheet mica is recovered by either sinking
a shaft along the strike and dip of a
pegmatite or by open-pit surface mining
of semi-hard pegmatite ore.
USES Electronics
Sheet mica is used principally in the electronic and
electrical industries.
The major uses of sheet and block mica are as electrical
insulators in electronic equipment, thermal insulation,
gauge “glass”, windows in stove and kerosene heaters,
dielectrics in capacitors, decorative panels in lamps and
windows, insulation in electric motors and generator
armatures, field coil insulation, and magnet and
commutator core insulation.
USES Electronics
Sheet mica is used principally in the electronic and
electrical industries.
REFERENCES
https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Muscovi
te
https://www.mindat.org/min-6728.html
https://www.minerals.net/minerals-Monoclinic-
crystal_group.aspx
https://mineralseducationcoalition.org/minerals-
database/mica/
THANK
YOU!