What is silicon?

Silicon (Taiwan, Hong Kong called Si X descr) is a chemical element, chemical symbol is Si, formerly known as silicon. Atomic number 14, relative atomic mass 28.0855, amorphous silicon and crystalline silicon allotrope, belongs to the third period of the periodic table, Iva group of metal-like elements.

Silicon is also a very common element, but it rarely occurs in nature as an elemental substance. Instead, it is found in rocks, gravel, and dust in the form of complex silicates or silica. Silicon is the eighth most abundant in the universe. It is the second most abundant element in the Earth's crust, making up 26.4 percent of the total mass of the crust, after oxygen (49.4 percent).

Silicon accounts for about 25.7 percent of the total weight of the Earth's crust, second only to oxygen. In nature, silicon is usually found in the form of oxygen-containing compounds, the simplest of which is the silica-oxygen compound silica SiO2. Quartz, crystal, etc., are variants of pure silica. The silica compounds in ores and rocks are collectively referred to as silicate. The more important ones include feldspar KalSi3O8, kaolin Al2Si2O5(OH)4, talc Mg3(Si4O10)(OH)2, mica Kal2 (AlSi3O10)(OH)2, asasos H4Mg3Si2O9, sodium zeolite Na2(Al2Si3O10)·2H2O, garnet Ca3Al2(SiO4)3, zircon ZrSiO4 and beryl Be3Al2Si6O18, etc. Soil, clay, and sand are the weathering products of naturally occurring silicate rocks.

Silicon is widely distributed in nature, with 16.7 percent of atoms in the Earth's crust. A basic element that forms rock minerals, occurring as quartz sand and silicate.

After oxygen, silicon is the most abundant element in the earth's crust. If carbon is the basis of all organic life, silicon occupies an equal place in the earth's crust, which is composed, for the most part, of siliceous layers of rock. These rocks are almost entirely composed of silica and various silicates. Feldspar, mica, clay, olivine, hornblende and so on are silicate; Crystal, agate, jasper, opal, quartz, sand, and flint are all forms of silica.