Is Silicon-Oxygen Tetrahedron Bonding Ionic, Covalent, or Both?

[eyehategod]

is silicon-oxygen tetrahedron(SiO4) stable or unstable? is there covalent or ionic bonding?

Im not sure but i think it is stable and there's ionic boding. Silicon gives away one electron to every oxygen molecule making silicon a +4 ion and making each oxygen molecule have a charge of -1. b/c there are 4 oxygen molecules there's a total of a -4 charge for the oxygen. This makes them attracted to each other.

Is this correct?
Can there also be covalent bonding?
can anyone help me out

 

[Kushal]

there is covalent bonding. it is a macromolecule. and has very high melting point, it should be quite stable then, at least thermally...

i'm assuming you are talking about SiO2, because i never heard of SiO4. i kno that SiO2 is just the ratio of Si to O, and that SiO4 units are joined together because of the -1 charge on oxygen.

 

[chemisttree]

Silicate can be expressed as SiO_4^{-4} and is a very common form in silicate minerals. The ion can be bound to other silicates, in which case it will be mostly covalent-type bonding, and to various metals (alkali, alkaline, transition). The bonding type between the oxygen and the metals is dependent on the metal itself and can be both covalent and ionic.