'Silicon' definitions:
Definition of 'silicon'
From: WordNet
noun
A tetravalent nonmetallic element; next to oxygen it is the most abundant element in the earth's crust; occurs in clay and feldspar and granite and quartz and sand; used as a semiconductor in transistors [syn: silicon, Si, atomic number 14]
Definition of 'Silicon'
From: GCIDE
- Silicon \Sil"i*con\, n. [See Silica.] (Chem.) A nonmetalic element analogous to carbon. It always occurs combined in nature, and is artificially obtained in the free state, usually as a dark brown amorphous powder, or as a dark crystalline substance with a meetallic luster. Its oxide is silica, or common quartz, and in this form, or as silicates, it is, next to oxygen, the most abundant element of the earth's crust. Silicon is characteristically the element of the mineral kingdom, as carbon is of the organic world. Symbol Si. Atomic weight 28. Called also silicium. [1913 Webster]
Definition of 'Silicon'
From: Elements
- Symbol: Si
- Atomic number: 14
- Atomic weight: 28.086
- Metalloid element belonging to group 14 of the periodic table. It is the second most abundant element in the Earth's crust, making up 25.7% of it by weight. Chemically less reactive than carbon. First identified by Lavoisier in 1787 and first isolated in 1823 by Berzelius.