How does silicon react

Silanes have a variety of industrial and medical uses. Among other things, silanes are used as water repellents and sealants. Silicones are a synthetic silicon compound, they are not found in nature. When specific silanes are made to undergo a specific reaction, they are turned into silicone, a very special silicon complex.

Silicone is a polymer and is prized for its versatility, temperature durability, low volatility, general chemical resistance and thermal stability. Silicone has a unique chemical structure, but it shares some core structural elements with both silicates and silanes.

See Figure Silicone polymers are used for a huge array of things. Among numerous other things, breast implants are made out of silicone. Silicon has a tendency to readily react with halogens. The general formula depicting this is SiX 4 , where X represents any halogen. Silicon can also expand its valence shell, and the laboratory preparation of [SiF 6 ] 2- is a definitive example of this. However, it is unlikely that silicon could create such a complex with any other halogen than fluorine, because six of the larger halogen ions cannot physically fit around the central silicon atom.

Silicon halides are synthesized to purify silicon complexes. Silicon halides can easily be made to give up their silicon via specific chemical reactions that result in the formation of pure silicon. Silicon is a vital component of modern day industry.

Its abundance makes it all the more useful. Silicon can be found in products ranging from concrete to computer chips. The high tech sectors adoption of the title Silicon Valley underscores the importance of silicon in modern day technology.

Pure silicon, that is essentially pure silicon, has the unique ability of being able to discretely control the number and charge of the current that passes through it. This makes silicon play a role of utmost importance in devices such as transistors, solar cells, integrated circuits, microprocessors, and semiconductor devices, where such current control is a necessity for proper performance. Semiconductors exemplify silicon's use in contemporary technology. Semiconductors are unique materials that have neither the electrical conductivity of a conductor nor of an insulator.

Semiconductors lie somewhere in between these two classes giving them a very useful property. Semiconductors are able to manipulate electric current. They are used to rectify, amplify, and switch electrical signals and are thus integral components of modern day electronics. Semiconductors can be made out of a variety of materials, but the majority of semiconductors are made out of silicon. But semiconductors are not made out of silicates, or silanes, or silicones, they are made out pure silicon, that is essentially pure silicon crystal.

Like carbon, silicon can make a diamond like crystal. This structure is called a silicon lattice. However, this silicon lattice is essentially an insulator, as there are no free electrons for any charge movement, and is therefore not a semiconductor. This crystalline structure is turned into a semiconductor when it is doped.

Doping refers to a process by which impurities are introduced into ultra pure silicon, thereby changing its electrical properties and turning it into a semiconductor.

Doping turns pure silicon into a semiconductor by adding or removing a very very small amount of electrons, thereby making it neither an insulator nor a conductor, but a semiconductor with limited charge conduction. Subtle manipulation of pure silicon lattices via doping generates the wide variety of semiconductors that modern day electrical technology requires.

Semiconductors are made out of silicon for two fundamental reasons. Silicon has the properties needed to make semiconductors, and silicon is the second most abundant element on earth. Glass is another silicon derivate that is widely utilized by modern day society. If sand, a silica deposit, is mixed with sodium and calcium carbonate at temperatures near degrees Celsius, when the resulting product cools, glass forms.

Glass is a particularly interesting state of silicon. Glass is unique because it represents a solid non-crystalline form of silicon. The tetrahedral silica elements bind together, but in no fundamental pattern behind the bonding. The end result of this unique chemical structure is the often brittle typically optically transparent material known as glass. This silica complex can be found virtually anywhere human civilization is found.

Glass can be tainted by adding chemical impurities to the basal silica structure. Modern fiber optic cables must relay data via undistorted light signals over vast distances. To undertake this task, fiber optic cables must be made of special ultra-high purity glass. The secret behind this ultra-high purity glass is ultra pure silica. To make fiber optic cables meet operational standards, the impurity levels in the silica of these fiber optic cables has been reduced to parts per billion.

This level of purity allows for the vast communications network that our society has come to take for granted. Silicon plays an integral role in the construction industry. Silicon, specifically silica, is a primary ingredient in building components such as bricks, cement, ceramics, and tiles.

Additionally, silicates, especially quartz, are very thermodynamically stable. This translates to silicon ceramics having high heat tolerance. This property makes silicon ceramics particularily useful from things ranging from space ship hulls to engine components. Silicone polymers represent another facet of silicon's usefulness. Silicone polymers are generally characterized by their flexibility, resistance to chemical attack, impermeability to water, and their ability to retain their properties at both high and low temperatures.

This array of properties makes silicone polymers very useful. Silicone polymers are used in insulation, cookware, high temperature lubricants, medical equipment, sealants, adhesives, and even as an alternative to plastic in toys. As silicon is not normally found in its pure state, silicon must be chemically extracted from its naturally occurring compounds.

Silicones are essentially organically modified quartz. Silicon quartz consists of silicon and oxygen atoms. In the making of silicones, two oxygen atoms attached to every silicon atom have been replaced by methyl groups. Silicon is a chemical element widely distributed on earth in various combinations with oxygen only silica or oxygen and other elements silicates. In many biological systems silica is an essential element of mechanical structures.

Silicon is always found in chemically and thermally stable mineral combinations but never in its pure form. Silicon is the key to all silicone chemistry as its atomic structure dictates the properties of silicones.

Today elemental silicon is obtained through the electro-thermic reduction of SiO 2 with carbon at 1, degrees Celsius. Elemental silicon is dark grey, metallic shiny, hard, and brittle. Like carbon, silicon has a crystalline structure, similar to that of diamonds. Pulmonary alveoluses harden and their flexibility decreases.

This results in shortness of breath, panting and couching. Only inhalation of silicon particles may cause these effects. Silicon breast implants may cause auto immune disorders and even cancer. There is however no scientific prove to substantiate these claims. Silicon is present in stomach tablets to treat colic and intestinal gases. A number of silicon compounds, such as silicon halogens, are corrosive and extremely toxic.

Silicon tetra chloride is an eye irritant, and may also cause breathing problems and skin irritation. In drinking water only silicic acid is present, which is relatively safe. Silicon is mainly present in drinking water as silicic acid, and needs not be removed with regard to human health. Silicon compounds may be applied as absorbents in water purification. Literature and the other elements and their interaction with water. Toggle navigation. About Lenntech. General Delivery Conditions.

Privacy Policy. All rights reserved. Silicon is the most abundant element on earth after oxygen. Large amounts of silicon can be found in various minerals and it is abundant in oceans and nearly all other waters as silicic acid. In the surface layers of oceans silicon concentrations are 30 ppb, whereas deeper water layers may contain 2 ppm silicon. Rivers generally contain 4 ppm silicon. These compounds are the result of slow dissolution of silica in water.

Rivers transport large amounts of silicon to sea. In what way and in what form does silicon react with water? Solubility of silicon and silicon compounds Silicon compounds differ in water solubility. Why is silicon present in water? What are the environmental effects of silicon in water? What are the health effects of silicon in water? Which water purification technologies can be applied to remove silicon from water?