Question

Willemite is a:
(A) sulphide mineral
(B) silicate mineral
(C) carbonate mineral
(D) oxide mineral

Answer 1

Willemite is a mineral associated with limestone and also found in marbles. It mostly occurs in the regions of Arizona. Its constituent materials will give us the answer to this question.

Complete answer:
Let us directly see what we mean by Willemite;
Willemite- Willemite is a minor zinc ore which has a variety of colours in daylight. It is a zinc silicate mineral with general formula as $Z{{n}_{2}}Si{{O}_{4}}$ . It is usually found as crystals, grains, fibres with zinc ores in many deposits.
It has brilliant green fluorescence which led to its use in early television tubes. It sometimes contains manganese in its crystals. It can be white, red or brown in colour too. It is a triangle in its crystal structure.

Hence, we can see that it is basically a silicate mineral. Therefore, option (B) is correct.

Note: Do note that silicate mineral will contain traces of silica in its natural form which would eventually be reflected in its formula. Similarly, any compound is either of sulphide, carbonate or oxide mineral then; that will contain their traces and would be reflected in the formula of that respective compound.