Owing to the abundance of silicon in the Earth's crust, natural silicon-based materials have been used for thousands … See more

A silicon atom has fourteen electrons. In the ground state, they are arranged in the electron configuration [Ne]3s 3p . Of these, four are valence electrons, occupying the 3s orbital and two of the 3p orbitals. Like the other mem… See more

Crystalline bulk silicon is rather inert, but becomes more reactive at high temperatures. Like its neighbour aluminium, silicon forms a thin, continuous surface layer of silicon dioxide (SiO 2) that protects the metal fr… See more

Silicon is the eighth most abundant element in the universe, coming after hydrogen, helium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, and neon. These abundances are not replicated well on Earth due to substantial separation of the elem… See more

Silicon of 96–99% purity is made by carbothermically reducing quartzite or sand with highly pure coke. The reduction is carried out in an electric arc furnace, with an excess of SiO 2 used to stop silicon carbide (SiC) … See more

Most silicon is used industrially without being purified, often with comparatively little processing from its natural form. More than 90% of the Earth's crust is composed of silicate minerals, which are compounds of silicon and … See more

Although silicon is readily available in the form of silicates, very few organisms use it directly. Diatoms, radiolaria, and siliceous sponges use biogenic silica as a structural material for their skeletons. Some plants accumulat… See more