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Topic: Why is asbestos toxic while mica is not?  (Read 6824 times)

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Offline Joek

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Why is asbestos toxic while mica is not?
« on: November 18, 2012, 01:14:35 PM »
Both asbestos and mica are silicates that form similar structures but asbestos is toxic while mica is not. Does anyone know the reason for this? I believe that it has something to do with the structure but am not sure what exactly. Asbestos seems to form Si4O116- while mice forms Si3O96-.
« Last Edit: November 18, 2012, 01:53:19 PM by Joek »
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Offline curiouscat

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Re: Why is asbestos toxic while mica is not?
« Reply #1 on: November 18, 2012, 01:22:26 PM »
Fiber size?
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Offline Arkcon

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Re: Why is asbestos toxic while mica is not?
« Reply #2 on: November 18, 2012, 01:40:48 PM »
Quote from: curiouscat on November 18, 2012, 01:22:26 PM
Fiber size?

Bingo. The wikipedia article is sketchy, the the small fiber size is known to cause immune cell mitosis probles, of the sort that aren't seen with larger silicate fibers, for example, glass fibers, or much shorter ones, for example, talc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asbestos#Mechanisms_which_might_be_triggering_cancer_development
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Hey, I'm not judging.  I just like to shoot straight.  I'm a man of science.
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