Mg2SiO4
Forsterite · Magnesium orthosilicate
Mg2SiO4 is a stable, insulating magnesium silicate mineral that is essential to both planetary geology and the production of high-performance technical ceramics.
About Forsterite
Mg2SiO4 is a robust, thermodynamically stable magnesium silicate that serves as a fundamental building block in geological and materials science. As a wide-gap insulator, it exhibits excellent dielectric properties and structural integrity under extreme conditions.
Its significance spans from planetary science, where it constitutes a major portion of the upper mantle, to advanced industrial applications. Due to its high structural stability and resistance to thermal degradation, it is a preferred material for specialized ceramic components and refractory linings.
Key Properties
Cross-validated computational properties for Forsterite, aggregated across 4 databases.
Band GapEnergy needed to move an electron from the valence band to the conduction band. Lower or zero values tend to behave more metallic; larger gaps are more insulating or semiconducting.
Energy Above HullThermodynamic distance from the most stable set of competing phases. 0 eV/atom is on the convex hull; small positive values may still be experimentally accessible.
StabilityA plain-language summary of the best reported energy-above-hull result. It reflects whether the lowest-energy structure is on, near, or far from the stability hull.
StructuresCount of reported calculated crystal structures for this formula, including alternate polymorphs, source databases, and observed space groups.
Reported Structures
Lowest-energy structures reported for Mg2SiO4, ranked by energy above hull.
| Space GroupSymmetry classification of the crystal arrangement. The number is the international space-group index. | Crystal SystemBroad lattice family, such as cubic, tetragonal, monoclinic, or triclinic, derived from unit-cell symmetry. | Band Gap (eV)Electronic gap calculated for this specific reported structure, measured in electronvolts. | E above hull (eV/atom)Thermodynamic distance from the convex hull for this structure, normalized per atom. Lower is generally more stable. | E/atom (eV)Computed total energy normalized per atom. Use energy above hull, not this value alone, when comparing stability. | Density (g/cm³)Mass per relaxed crystal volume, reported in grams per cubic centimeter. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pnma (No. 62) | orthorhombic | 4.64 | 0.0000 | -7.281 | 3.24 |
| I-42d (No. 122) | tetragonal | 4.08 | 0.0452 | -7.236 | 2.98 |
| Imma (No. 74) | orthorhombic | 4.50 | 0.0502 | -7.231 | 3.36 |
| P-3m1 (No. 164) | trigonal | 4.59 | 0.0623 | -7.219 | 3.09 |
| Fd-3m (No. 227) | cubic | 4.75 | 0.0717 | -7.210 | 3.45 |
| R3m (No. 160) | trigonal | 2.37 | 0.1314 | -7.150 | 3.40 |
| P-1 (No. 2) | triclinic | 4.02 | 0.1330 | -7.148 | 3.37 |
| P2/m (No. 10) | monoclinic | 4.44 | 0.1411 | -7.140 | 3.05 |
| Imma (No. 74) | orthorhombic | 4.02 | 0.1538 | -7.128 | 3.36 |
| Pbam (No. 55) | orthorhombic | 4.40 | 0.1735 | -7.108 | 3.67 |
| P212121 (No. 19) | orthorhombic | 3.43 | 0.1953 | -7.086 | 3.05 |
| Cmc21 (No. 36) | orthorhombic | 4.46 | 0.2125 | -7.069 | 3.71 |
Applications
Where Forsterite is used.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Forsterite, answered from cross-validated data.
What is Mg2SiO4?
Mg2SiO4 is a stable, insulating magnesium silicate mineral that is essential to both planetary geology and the production of high-performance technical ceramics.
What is Mg2SiO4 used for?
What is the band gap of Mg2SiO4?
Is Mg2SiO4 a metal, semiconductor, or insulator?
Is Mg2SiO4 thermodynamically stable?
What is the crystal structure of Mg2SiO4?
What is the density of Mg2SiO4?
How many polymorphs of Mg2SiO4 are known?
What elements does Mg2SiO4 contain?
Where does the data for Mg2SiO4 come from?
How It Compares
As a highly stable and well-characterized compound with extensive structural data, Mg2SiO4 serves as the definitive archetype for magnesium-based silicates. It represents the standard for thermodynamic stability within its chemical family, providing a baseline for understanding the phase behavior and insulating properties of related mineral systems.
Data sources & attribution
- materials_project — Data from the Materials Project. Cite: Jain et al., APL Materials 1, 011002 (2013).
- jarvis — Data from JARVIS (NIST). Cite: Choudhary et al., npj Comp. Mater. 6, 173 (2020).
- mpaloe — Data from mpaloe.
- cod — Data from the Crystallography Open Database. Cite: Grazulis et al., Nucleic Acids Res. 40, D420 (2012).
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