Why is the ratio between Silicon and Oxygen 1:3 in single chain silicates? I thought that the ratio of silicon to oxygen in a silica tetrahedron was 1:4, so if a single chain is just many of these linked together, why does the ratio become 1:3?
Silicon has 2 complete oxygen atoms ($2\times1=2$) and 2 equally shared oxygen atoms ($2\times1/2=1$), total 3.