Silicon

=﻿= =﻿= Name: Silicon Symbol: Si Atomic weight: 28.0855 State (s, l, g): solid Melting point: (1414 oC) Boiling point: (3265 oC)

Color: silvery

Harmful effects: Silicon is not known to be toxic, but if breathed in as a fine silica/silicate dust it may cause chronic respiratory problems. Silicates such as asbestos are carcinogenic.

Characteristics: Silicon is a hard, relatively inert metalloid and in crystalline form is very brittle with a marked metallic luster.

Silicon occurs mainly in nature as the oxide and as silicates.

The solid form of silicon does not react with oxygen water and most acids. Silicon reacts with halogens or dilute alkalis.

Silicon also has the unusual property that (like water) it expands as it freezes. Four other elements expand when they freeze; gallium, bismuth, antimony and germanium

By Mitchell Ries