What is Silicon?

Silicon  is a chemical element whose symbol is Si and its atomic number is 14. A tetravalent metalloid, it is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table. Controversy about silicon 's character dates to its discovery: silicon was first prepared and characterized in pure form 1824, and given the name silicium ,with an -ium word-ending to suggest a metal. However, its final name, suggested in 1831, reflects the more physically similar elements carbon and boron.

Silicon is the 18th most common element in the universe by mass, it, however, very rarely occurs as the pure free element in nature. It is most widely distributed in dusts, sands, planetoids, and planets as various forms of silicon dioxide or silicates. More than 90% of the Earth's crust is composed of silicate minerals, making silicon become the second most abundant element in the earth's crust (about 28% by mass) after oxygen.
Most silicon is used commercially without being separated, and indeed often with little processing of compounds from nature. These include direct industrial building-use of clays, silica sand and stone. Silica is used in ceramic brick. Silicate goes into Portland cement for mortar and stucco, and when combined with silica sand and gravel, to make concrete. Silicates are also in whiteware ceramics such as porcelain, and in traditional quartz-based soda-lime glass. More modern silicon compounds such as silicon carbide form abrasives and high-strength ceramics. What's more, Silicon  is the basis of the ubiquitous synthetic silicon-based polymers called silicones.

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