Silicon Chemical Symbol “Si” Atomic Number 14

Silicon is one of the most important element on the earth. The position of silicon is Group 14 of the periodic table or group 4A.  It is one of the important element for semi-conductors, one of the most important element in metallurgy and one of the important element in chemistry. Silicon is a fundamental building block for electronics because silicon is the basic component of a semi-conductors.

Occurrence:  The purified silicon is very much reactive in the nature , but it is usually seen in all rocks despite of this it is found in clays, soils and sand either combined with Oxugen i.e. O₂ in the form of silica, silicon dioxide, SiO₂ it is found in practically all rocks as well as in sand, clays, and soils, in combination of oxygen in the form of silica i.e. silicon dioxide and SiO₂. The oxidized form of silicon in the form of silicates and silicon dioxide in the earth’s crust plays an important role. The compounds of silicon also occurs in all natural sources of waters.

Silicon natural occurrence

Alloying Behavior of Silicon: Nowadays Silicon is the most common alloy in the form of steel. Silicon also increases the process of oxidation at high temperatures. And strongly effect in oxidizing solutions at low temperatures. Some of the example of steel alloys containing Silicon are UNS S17400 & P265GH Steel.

Silicon enhances alloy strength, acid resistance, elasticity, and enlarges grain sizes, which result in increasing magnetic permeability.

When silicon is added to aluminum it reduced the melting temperature and let it flow. Silicon in aluminum does not produce heat-treatable alloys but it produces non-heat-treatable alloys. Silicon in addition to aluminum is rather used for casting manufactures. The most known work of silicon alloy are filler wires and brazing of aluminum and most important fusion welding. Silicon plays an important role in metallurgy. The alloys of silicon are aluminum, tin, brass and bronze.

Physical Properties of Silicon: Silicon is a semi metallic element that means it contains properties of both metals and non-metals. It exists in two allotropic states i.e. elements with different physical and chemical properties. It is an allotrope is in the form of needle like crystals or flat plates and shiny grayish black in color. Its pure form is hard, dark gray solid. It phase is solid mostly. Its melting point is 1417^oC and boiling point is 2600^oC. It is a semi-conductor.

Chemical Properties: Silicon is as electrically positive as much as tin i.e. Sn and more positive than Germanium i.e. Ge and Lead i.e. Pb. It forms tripositive ions and many covalent compounds. It’s act as negative ion in the silicide and positive in complex anions. The chemical formula is Si. It forms relations with metals and non-metals. It combines with oxygen and form SiO₂ and silicon dioxide. It acts stable in air. It is a dark brown crystal that could be burn in air when given flame. It only dissolve in the mixture of Nitric acid i.e. HNO₃ and hydrochloric acid i.e. HCl.