 Discovery Information
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| Who: Jons Berzelius |
| When: 1823 |
| Where: Sweden |
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| Name Origin
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| Latin silex, or silicis (meaning what were more generally termed "the flints" or "hard rocks" during the Early Modern era
where nowadays we would say "silica" or "silicates")
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| "Silicon" in different languages. |
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| Sources
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| Silicon is the second most abundant element and comprises 25.7% of the earth's crust (oxygen is first). Makes up major portion of clay, granite, feldspar, mica, asbestos, quartz (SiO2), and sand.
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| Primary producers are Austria, Italy, India, South Africa, Australia, Canada, the USA and Brazil. Every year around 5000 tons of electronics grade silicon is produced.
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| Abundance
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| Universe: 700 ppm (by weight) |
| Sun: 900 ppm (by weight) |
| Carbonaceous meteorite: 1.4 x 105 ppm
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| Earth's Crust: 2.771 x 105 ppm
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| Seawater: |
| Atlantic surface: 0.03 ppm |
| Atlantic deep: 0.82 ppm |
| Pacific surface: 0.03 ppm |
| Pacific deep: 4.09 ppm |
| Human: |
| 260000 ppb by weight |
| 58000 ppb by atoms |
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| Uses
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| Used in glass as silicon dioxide (SiO2). It is used as a semiconductor to make microchips for electronics (like your computer). Silicon is also used in solar cells,
tools, cement, LCDs, grease and oils.
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| History
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| Silicon (Latin silex, silicis for flint, flint's) was first identified by Antoine Lavoisier in 1787, and was later mistaken by Humphry Davy in 1800 for a compound. In 1811 Gay-Lussac and Thenard probably prepared impure amorphous silicon through the heating of potassium with silicon tetrafluoride. In 1824, Berzelius prepared amorphous silicon using approximately the same method as Lussac.
Berzelius also purified the product by repeatedly washing it.
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| Notes
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| Silicon carbide (SiC) is one of the hardest substances known.
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| Hazards
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| Fine powder is highly flammable. |
| A serious lung disease known as silicosis often occurred in miners, stonecutters, and others who were engaged in work where
siliceous dust was inhaled in great quantities.
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