Silicon: October 2019

Located at Group 14 and Period 3 is one of the most abundant elements on Earth's crust and is use to make glass. This is Silicon.

First discovered by Humphry Davy in 1808 and first isolated purely by Jöns Jacob Berzelius.

The existence of Silicon is actually long predicted by the great scientist Antoine - Laurent Lavoisier in 1787. He predicted that the element will be found in a quartz. He also predicted that this element is very abundant.

Antoine's prediction is correct! Silicon is indeed one of the most abundant element on Earth crust, with the ranking number 3 in the Earth's crust. Silicon also holds an abundance ranking of number 8, with the ppm value of 650.

Antoine predicted this element, but why didn't he try to discover it?

Well, the reason is that Silicon always exist bonded with Oxygen, forming Silica ( Silica Oxide ). To seperate the oxide of Silicon with the element itself, it requires very hard work and many procedures. So, Antoine decided not to try discover it.

Silicon is not isolated purely until in 1808, where Silicon is partly purely isolated for the first time. In 1808, Humphry Davy ( Isolator of Sodium , Potassium, Calcium and more ) tried to isolate Silicon using his well known method called Electrolysis. Little did he know, the Silicon he isolated is partly pure. And that if he continued researching this element, he would have taken the discovery and isolation credit. But of course he didn't. So, he lost his discoverer credit.

After that, many scientist attempted to isolate Silicon too, but failed. One of the failed attempts are in 1811, where French chemists Joseph L. Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard manage to isolate an impure silicon compound by reacting potassium with silicon tetrafluoride. After the reaction, it starts to produce amorphous silicon, which contain Silicon and Carbon. However, despite this breakthrough, they still did not attempt to purify this new substance.

Finally, in 1824,

Located at Group 14 and Period 3 is one of the material to make glass. This is Silicon.

First discovered by Antoine Lavoisier in 1811 and first isolated, described as an element in 1824 by Jöns Jacob Berzelius.

Glass

Antoine Lavoisier

Jons Jacob Berzelius

It was extracted by heating chips of Potassium in a silica container. After heating, the residual products was carefully washed away which
the product was after that called Silicon.

Now, it was extracted by the reduction of Silica Oxide with coke in an electrical furnace. The product is a refined Silicon.

Being the eighth most abundant element in the universe and also slightly make up more that 27% of the earth crust, silicon almost never existed in a 100% pure form. Silicate-containing minerals and compounds make up 90% of the earth's crust.

Atomic Number : 14
Name : Silicon
Latin Name : Silicis
Electrons per shell : [ 2, 8, 4 ]
Discoverer : Antoine Lavoisier
Isolator : Jöns Jacob Berzelius
Element's : Atomic Mass : 28.0855 u
: Density : 2.3290 g/cm³
: Type : Metalloid

Refined Silicon

Chemical Properties :

Pure Silicon is very reactive
Silicon Dioxide occurs both in crystalline minerals
Extracted using coke (for refined silicon)
14 isotopes : 3 of them are :

Silicon - 28

Silicon - 28 : Proton : 14
: Neutron : 14
: Electron : 14
(Half Life : Stable)

Silicon - 29 : Proton : 14
: Neutron : 15
: Electron : 14
(Half Life : Stable)

Silicon - 30 : Proton : 14
: Neutron : 16
: Electron : 14
(Half Life : Stable)

Physical Properties :