Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A dark-brown or dark-green to black mica, K(Mg,Fe)3(Al,Fe)Si3O10(OH)2, found in igneous and metamorphic rocks.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An important member of the mica group of minerals. See mica.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Min.) Mica containing iron and magnesia, generally of a black or dark green color; -- a common constituent of crystalline rocks. See mica.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun mineralogy A dark brown mica; it is a mixed aluminosilicate and fluoride of potassium, magnesium and iron.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun dark brown to black mica found in igneous and metamorphic rock

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[After Jean Baptiste Biot, (1774–1862), French physicist.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Biot +‎ -ite, named by J.F.L. Hausmann in 1847 in honour of the French physicist Jean-Baptiste Biot, who, in 1816, researched the optical properties of mica, discovering many unique properties.

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Examples

  • In certain minerals, notably the brown variety of mica known as biotite, the microscope reveals minute circular marks occurring here and there, quite irregularly.

    The Birth-Time of the World and Other Scientific Essays John Joly 1895

  • Furthermore, their model included a second mineral called biotite, surrounding a zircon core.

    Reasons to Believe - 2009

  • And micas such as biotite have been found in regions containing evidence of the earliest life-forms, which are believed to have existed about 3.8 million years ago.

    WebWire | Recent Headlines 2010

  • And micas such as biotite have been found in regions containing evidence of the earliest life-forms, which are believed to have existed about 3.8 million years ago.

    RedOrbit News - Technology 2010

  • And micas such as biotite have been found in regions containing evidence of the earliest life-forms, which are believed to have existed about 3.8 million years ago.

    PhysOrg.com - latest science and technology news stories 2010

  • He also put a challenge to geologists to to synthesize "a hand-sized specimen of a typical biotite-bearing granite" as a test and was dismissed, G.

    [evolution] and its shoddy tactics 2009

  • Cape Maclear at the north end is rocky, predominantly biotite-granite.

    Lake Malawi National Park, Malawi 2009

  • He also put a challenge to geologists to to synthesize "a hand-sized specimen of a typical biotite-bearing granite" as a test and was dismissed, G.

    Archive 2009-06-01 2009

  • Vermiculite is formed by the alteration and/or weathering of the minerals biotite and phlogopite.

    Vermiculite 2008

  • Black biotite contains potassium, iron, and magnesium.

    Mica 2008

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