19 Facts About Silicon

Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14.

Silicon is the eighth most common element in the universe by mass, but very rarely occurs as the pure element in the Earth's crust.

Silicon was given its present name in 1817 by Scottish chemist Thomas Thomson.

Silicon retained part of Davy's name but added "-on" because he believed that silicon was a nonmetal similar to boron and carbon.

Silicon is an important element in high-technology semiconductor devices, many places in the world bear its name.

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Silicon can enter the oceans through groundwater and riverine transport.

Silicon tends to resemble germanium far more than it does carbon, and this resemblance is enhanced by the d-block contraction, resulting in the size of the germanium atom being much closer to that of the silicon atom than periodic trends would predict.

Silicon dioxide, known as silica, is one of the best-studied compounds, second only to water.

Silicon carbide was first made by Edward Goodrich Acheson in 1891, who named it carborundum to reference its intermediate hardness and abrasive power between diamond (an allotrope of carbon) and corundum (aluminium oxide).

Silicon soon founded a company to manufacture it, and today about one million tonnes are produced each year.

Silicon invented the word to illustrate the similarity of chemical formulae between Ph2SiO and benzophenone, Ph2CO, although he stressed the lack of chemical resemblance due to the polymeric structure of Ph2SiO, which is not shared by Ph2CO.

Silicon is the eighth most abundant element in the universe, coming after hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, and neon.

Silicon is an important constituent of electrical steel, modifying its resistivity and ferromagnetic properties.

Silicon significantly improves the hardness and thus wear-resistance of aluminium.

Silicon has become the most popular material for both high power semiconductors and integrated circuits because it can withstand the highest temperatures and greatest electrical activity without suffering avalanche breakdown.

Silicon is considered an alternative to carbon, as it can create complex and stable molecules with four covalent bonds, required for a DNA-analog, and it is available in large quantities.

Silicon enters the ocean in a dissolved form such as silicic acid or silicate.

Silicon is needed for synthesis of elastin and collagen, of which the aorta contains the greatest quantity in the human body, and has been considered an essential element; nevertheless, it is difficult to prove its essentiality, because silicon is very common, and hence, deficiency symptoms are difficult to reproduce.

Silicon is currently under consideration for elevation to the status of a "plant beneficial substance by the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials.