8. Briefly describe the structure of clay minerals. What is it about these minerals that makes their presence in soil so important to engineering?
Clay minerals are referred to as secondary silicate minerals since they are generated when main sandstone minerals deteriorate. Clay minerals are perfectly alright typically flake-shaped as well as occur in the microscopic size of particles (<0.002 mm); they are generally distinguished from sands, pebbles, and sediment by a negative load demand just on crystalline borders and a strong electric load just on the surface.
Clay minerals are made up of two types of configurations. To begin, silicon ions are bonded to oxygen molecules across all four sides to produce silica oxygen (tetrahedron). Secondly, with aluminum and mg ions linked on eight vertices with oxygen as well as hydroxyl ions, an octagon arises (octahedron). All clay minerals are generally made up of tetrahedral and octahedral sheets containing different kinds of cations in varied shapes and linked in a specific system. The production of distinct clay minerals is caused by the variation in the architectures of the tetrahedral and octahedral sheeting.
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