Elementymology & Elements Multidict by Peter van der Krogt
Silicium
Silicon
Pop-ups with explanatory texts appear by moving your mouse over tables, illustrations, links etc.
Si
14
|
|
Elementymology & Elements Multidict by Peter van der Krogt
Silicium
Silicon
Pop-ups with explanatory texts appear by moving your mouse over tables, illustrations, links etc.
|
Si
14
|
|
Multilingual dictionary
Indo-EuropeanLanguage key — Germanic Silicon en Silizium de lb Silicium nl da fo Kiezel nl† Silikon af Kiesel af† Silisium fy no Kisel sv Kísill is — Italic Silicium fr Silicio es gl it Silici ca oc fur Silício pt Siliciu ro Silitsiumu arm — Slavic Кремний [kremnij] ru Кремнiй [kremnij] uk Крэмнiй [krèmnij] by Krzem pl Krzém kas Křemík cs Kremík sk Silicij sl hr bos Силициjум [silicijum] sr Силициум [silicium] mk Силиций [silicij] bg — Baltic Silicis lt Silīcijs lv Silicijan sud — Celtic Sílicon cy Sileacón ga Sileacon gd Shillagon gv Sylycon kw Silisiom br — Other Indo-European Πυριτιο [pyritio] el Silicium sq Սիլիցիում [silits'ium] hy — Indo-Iranian Кремний [kremnij] oss Uralic Pii fi Räni et Szilícium hu Атаем [ataem] mok Altaic Silisyum tr Кремний [kremnij] kk uz Silitziy tg Цахиур [cahiur] mn Other (Europe) Silizioa eu სიცილიუმი [sic'iliumi] ka East- & South-Asia ケイ素 [keiso] ja 硅 [gui1 / gwai1] zh (mand./cant.) 규소 [gyuso] ko Silic vi ซิลิคอน [silikhon] th Silikon ms சிலிக்கன் [cilikkan] ta Afro-Asiatic سيلكون [silīkūn] ar Silikon mt צורן [tsoran] he Africa Silikoni sw Artificial Silicio eo New names Silicon (SLC) aen Sandy dms |
Appearance, some properties, a memory peg and a summary of discovery and etymology
History & Etymology
Later in 1811, Louis-Joseph Gay-Lussac (1778-1850) and Louis-Jacques Thénard (1777-1857) probably prepared impure amorphous Silicon by heating potassium with silicon tetrafluoride. Jakob Berzelius (1779-1848), generally credited with the discovery, in 1824 succeeded in preparing amorphous Silicon by the same general method as used earlier, but he purified the product by removing the fluosilicates by repeated washings. The name Silicium is derived from silica > Latin silex for flint (SiO2), a hard stone. The Latin name silicium was adopted to conform with the -ium ending of most elements. The suffix -on in English was added because of its resemblance to Carbon.
Alternative names
Most languages use a form derived from the Latin silex, silicis = flint. The Slavic кремень [kremen'] has the same meaning. The Greek πυριτιο is connected with πυρ [pyr], meaning "fire". Flints were used to make fire (the Dutch word for flint, "vuursteen", means literally "fire stone").
In other languages the name has also a relation with flints: Finnish piikivi.
Andronia
Around 1800 there was a violent debate about concepts and methods between the supporters and opponents of the so-called Naturphilosophie ("natural philosophy").
The philosophers of nature declared that dualism is the principle of order
everywhere in physics and chemistry (Kleinert). One of these was Jakob Joseph Winterl (1739-1809), professor of chemistry and botany in Budapest. Winterl foresaw in his Prolusiones ad chemiam saeculi decimi noni (Buda: Typographia Regia Univ. Pestinensis 1800), many forthcoming paths and discoveries of 19th century chemistry.
According to the Naturphilosophie he supposed the existence of two substances, simpler than the normal elements and with a male or female basis. The male substance he called Andronia (Andronium), from the Greek androV, male; the female Thelike, from the Greek qhlukoV. From coal and salpeter he made a substance (earth?), considered by him as elemental.
A sample was sent to a commission of the Académie des Sciences in Paris, and was found to be consist of Sicilium, Iron, Clay and Lime (Figurowski, 1981, 230 and 259).
Chemistianity 1873
DAYAN
SILICON, the chief substance in Glass and Pots, Call'd Silicium, is a brown metalloid. Silicon exists in three diff'rent forms:— Amorphous; in crystals—like the Diamond; And scales—like Graphite: the two later kinds scratch glass. Silicon Amorphous has no lustre, Heated in Air it burns till cover'd with Oxide. (...) Silica (the Dioxide) occurs largely In flints, and the rocks forming the Earth's crust; 'Tis most abundant in the primary Rocks; It will not vapour at any known heat. The colourless, transparent Rock Crystal Is nearly pure Silica. Agate, Quartz, Flint, and Chalcedony, are chiefly Silica; Silicon is never found in native state, But combined with metals, or as Silica. Further reading
|
||||||||||
Last update:
© Peter van der Krogt
Silica (silicon dioxide, SiO2) is widely and most abundantly distributed in nature, both in the free state and in combination with metallic oxides. Free silica constitutes the greater part of sand and sandy rocks; when fairly pure it occurs in the large crystals which we know as quartz, and which, when coloured, form the gem-stones amethyst, cairngorm, cat's-eye and jasper. Amorphous forms also occur: chalcedony, and its coloured modifications agate, carnelian, onyx and sard, together with opal are examples.
Sir Humprey Davy in 1800 thought silica to be a compound and not an element. In 1808, he did experiments for the decomposition of alumine, silex, zircone, and glucine. He failed to isolate the metals in these, as he reported in his paper for the Royal Society of London on 30 June 1808, but he suggested names for the metals
