Silicon is an element represented as Si. Sir Humphry Davy proposed the name “silicium” for silicon after an attempt to isolate it in 1808.
In 1811, Gay-Lussac and Louis Thenard are thought to have prepared impure amorphous silicon by heating recently isolated potassium metal with silicon tetrafluoride. They however, did not purify the product, nor did they identify it as a new element. Silicon’s present name was given in 1817 by Scottish chemist Thomas Thomson.
Jons Jacob Berzelius is credited with the discovery of silicon. In 1824, he used the method followed by Gay-Lussac to prepare amorphous silicon and then purified the product into a brown powder through repeated washing.
Silicon of lesser purity is used in metallurgy as a reducing agent and as an alloying element in steel, aluminium, brass, and bronze.
Silicon dioxide (silica) and various silicates are the most important compounds of silicon. Silica in the form of sand and clay is used to make concrete and bricks. It is also used as refractory material for high-temperature applications.
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