SILICON

The silicon is a chemical element, atomic number 14 and placed in the group 4 of the periodic table of the elements forming a part of the family of the carbonoideos of symbol If. It is the most abundant second element in the terrestrial bark after the oxygen.
Three types of silicon exist: powder of silicon, the polycrystal of silicon and the olivino.
In crystalline form five-peseta coin is very and slightly soluble and presents a metallic sheen and greyish color.
It is in use in alloys, in the preparation of the silicones and in the industry of the technical ceramics.
The silicon (of the Latin silex, silica) was identified by the first time by Antoine Lavoisier in 1787, though later it was confused with a compound by Humphry Davy in 1800. In 1811 Gay-Lussac, and Louis Thenard probably, it prepared amorphous impure silicon warming potassium with silicon tetrafluoride. Finally, in 1824 Berzelius it prepared amorphous silicon using a method similar to that of Gay-Lussac.

Information obtained of www.wikipedia.org and www.enciclopedia.us.es