10 uses of silicon

Silicon is the second most abundant element in earth’s crust. It was discovered in 1823 by Jöns Jacob Berzelius.

Physical properties of silicon

Silicon has tremendous uses including manufacturing of ceramic, glass, synthetic polymers and is an essential part of integrated circuits.

History and Discovery

Compounds of silicon were used long before the discovery of silicon.

Antoine Lavoisier (1787) tried reducing silica, an oxide of silicon, to isolate silicon but failed. Sir Humphry Davy, in 1808 named the element silicium but also failed to isolate the element. The element was given its present name, silicon, by Thomas Thomson in 1817.

Gay Lussac and Thenard successfully prepared impure amorphous silicon in 1811 but they did not characterize it as a new element. In 1823, silicon was finally prepared in pure form by Jöns Jacob Berzelius and hence given credit for its discovery [1].

Crystalline form of silicon was prepared, 31 years later, by Deville in 1854.

Silicon