![]() Silica is used in making optical fibre which has vast uses in telecommunications and computer networking.It is used in making whiteware ceramics such as soda lime glass and porcelain.Silica is used to make fire brick (refractory brick) which is used in lining of furnace.Silicon minerals are used in making concrete.Silicon minerals are used as structural compounds for instance as clays, silica sand, building mortar, stucco and building stones.Melted silicon becomes very reactive and has to be stored in unreactive, refractory material to avoid any chemical reaction. It reacts with air above 900-degree centigrade. Its conductivity increases with high temperature. Silicon is inert in crystalline form at low temperatures. Silicon is a semiconductor at standard temperature and pressure. Chemical CharacteristicsĪt room temperature, pure silicon acts as an insulator. At standard conditions silicon also makes a giant covalent structure like other group 14 elements of periodic table do. It has a very high melting and boiling point. The symbol for silicon is Si with atomic number 14. Silicon, in comparison with neighbouring elements in the periodic table, is unreactive. Silicon is a brittle and hard crystalline solid. Silicon minerals make up 90% of the earth’s crust and it can be used industrially in its naturally occurring form which makes it cheap and easily available raw material. Silica is mostly found in crystalline state. Group of minerals composed of silicon and oxygen are named silica. Silicate minerals make up over 90% of earth’s crust. Silicon reacts with oxygen to make silicon dioxide or silicates. Silicon is formed through the oxygen-burning process in stars. It is the seventh most abundant element in the universe. Silicon is the second most abundant element present in the earth’s crust. Silicon Periodic Table ClassificationĬrystalline, reflective with bluish-tinged faces Crystalline form of silicon was prepared, 31 years later, by Deville in 1854. ![]() ![]() In 1823, silicon was finally prepared in pure form by Jöns Jacob Berzelius and hence given credit for its discovery. Gay Lussac and Thenard successfully prepared impure amorphous silicon in 1811 but they did not characterize it as a new element. The element was given its present name, silicon, by Thomas Thomson in 1817. Sir Humphry Davy, in 1808 named the element silicium but also failed to isolate the element. Antoine Lavoisier (1787) tried reducing silica, an oxide of silicon, to isolate silicon but failed. History and DiscoveryĬompounds of silicon were used long before the discovery of silicon. Silicon has tremendous uses including manufacturing of ceramic, glass, synthetic polymers and is an essential part of integrated circuits. It was discovered in 1823 by Jöns Jacob Berzelius. Silicon is the second most abundant element in earth’s crust.
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