Its everyday application can be seen in a wide range of industries and branches: China, Russia, the United States, and Norway are the world’s leading countries in silicon mining and production.Įlement 14 is one of the most versatile used chemical elements. Then, the impure product undergoes a process of refinement. In the next step, the silicon pieces are grown to form cylindrical single crystals. This lithophilic element also can be found in clays, feldspar, olivine, pyroxene, amphiboles, micas, zeolites, and ultramarines.įor commercial purposes, pure silicon is obtained by the reduction of silica (SiO2), silicon tetrachloride, or trichlorosilane with coke in an electric furnace. In the geosphere, silicon dioxide occurs both in crystalline minerals (quartz, cristobalite, tridymite), in amorphous or seemingly amorphous minerals (agate, opal, chalcedony). Plants require silicon for strengthening their cell walls. The compounds of silicon are also widespread and can be traced in all spheres of the Earth – the atmosphere (as siliceous dust), in all aquatic systems, the biosphere, as well as in the tissues, skeletons, and body fluids of some animals. Silica and silicates are the most abundant form of silicon. Silicate rocks, for instance, contain both element 14 and oxygen. In nature, silicon always occurs in combination with other elements in the Earth’s crust, especially with oxygen. Known since ancient times, silicon is believed to be a cosmic product of alpha-particle absorption. In its pure, elemental form, silicon can be found everywhere in the Universe, especially in meteorite rocks. This chemical maneuver resulted in the production of pure silicon. Namely, Berzelius tried to recreate the experiment of the two French chemists, only this time he heated potassium fluorosilicate and potassium and continued the experiment with purification of the elemental silicon byproducts by using hydrolysis. In 1824, the Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius (1779 – 1848) became the first among the scientists to discover silicon metal. By this method, Gay-Lussac and Thénard managed to produce only impure amorphous silicon. Following Davy’s conclusion, they exposed to heat a mixture of potassium with silicon tetrafluoride, in order to isolate the postulated chemical elements. A decade later, Sir Humphry Davy was convinced that the hard, gray substance isolated by Lavoiser contains several other elements, so he labeled it as a compound.Īnother 10 years later, the French chemists Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard took a closer look at Davy’s compound that resembled a meteorite rock. In 1787, this distinguished scientist attempted to reduce an oxide of silicon labeled as silica by using electrolysis, but without much luck. The first scientist who had attempted to isolate silicon from rocks was the French chemist and nobleman Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794). They were also using this substance in the mortar for building homes and knew how to make glass out of sand. Natural silicon-based materials and silicon rock crystals have been used by these and other ancient societies mainly for decorative purposes, such as making jewelry beads or vases. Silicon has been known to the predynastic Egyptians and the ancient Chinese. Since it’s an uncommon trait for metals, this particular chemical property classifies silicone as a metalloid. With this, the conductivity of silicon improves when the temperature increases. When exposed to high temperatures, this non-metallic substance displays greater chemical reactivity. In compounds, element 14 displays a purely electropositive chemical behavior.Īt room temperature, element 14 is a relatively inactive chemical element. There are two allotropes of element 14: a brown amorphous form of silicon and dark crystalline silicon. The crystalline form of silicon has a diamond structure. This member of the boron family of elements in the periodic table has an electronegativity of 1.8 according to Pauling, whereas the atomic radius according to van der Waals is 0.132 nm. Silicon reaches its boiling point at 3265☌, 5909☏, 3538 K, while the melting point is achieved at 1414☌, 2577☏, 1687 K. Thus, this chemical element is labeled as one of the seven metalloids of the periodic table. Silicon physically appears as a metal, but it displays strong non-metal properties. With the periodic table symbol Si, atomic number 14, atomic mass of 28.0855 g.mol -1, and electron configuration 3s 2 3p 2, silicon is a brittle, hard, solid non-metallic substance with a blue-gray metallic luster. The symbol in the periodic table of elementsĪ blue-gray non-metallic substance with a metallic lusterįrom 29 milliseconds to 153 years approximately Chemical and Physical Properties of Silicon Property
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