Silicon
in chemistry, one of the non-metallic elements, the base of silica, discovered by Berzelius in 1823. It is in the form of its only oxide, silica, the most abundant solid element in nature. It is obtained in a state of purity by igniting the double fluoride of silicon and potassium with sufficient potassium to combine with the whole of the fluorine. The mass is washed first with cold, and then with hot water. Silicon thus obtained is a dull-brown powder, sinking in water, in which it is insoluble. It is a non-conductor of electricity, and is insoluble in all tor of electricity, and is insoluble in all acids but the hydrofluoric. Heated in oxygen or air, it burns with a brilliant flame, being converted into silica, its only oxide. If heated in a closed platinum crucible its properties become changed.
It is now insoluble in hydrofluoric acid, it is decreased in bulk, and may be heated strongly in air and oxygen without taking fire. Silicon unites with hydrogen, forming a gas spontaneously inflammable in ing a gas spontaneously inflammable in