--- title: "When and who invented the Silicones?" description: "When and who invented the Silicones?" author: "Cox elliott" published: 2018-08-30 canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49217/when-and-who-invented-the-silicones category: "innovation, discovery and technology" tags: ["innovation, discovery and technology"] reading_time: 3 minutes --- # When and who invented the Silicones? When and who invented the Silicones?\ \ \ ## Answers ### Answer by Harshal Vispute **[Silicon](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/93606/what-is-silicon-valley-and-where-is-it-located)**is a **chemical element** with the **symbol Si** and the **atomic number 14.** It is a tough, fragile crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic sheen that is a **tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor.** It belongs to **group 14** of the periodic table, with carbon above it and **germanium**, **tin**, **lead**, and **flerovium** below it. It has low reactivity. \ It was not until **1823** that **Jöns Jakob Berzelius** was able to create and analyze it in pure form due to its high chemical affinity for oxygen. Its oxides are anions from the silicate family. Among all metalloids and nonmetals, its melting and boiling temperatures of **1414 °C** and **3265 °C**, respectively, are second only to boron. \ **[Silicon](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/93606/what-is-silicon-valley-and-where-is-it-located)** is the **eighth**-**most abundant element** in the **universe** by mass, yet it is extremely rare in the Earth's crust as a pure element. It can be found in cosmic dust, planetoids, and planets in various forms of **[silicon](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/93606/what-is-silicon-valley-and-where-is-it-located) dioxide** (silica) or **silicates**. \ Silicate minerals make up more than **90%** of the Earth's crust, making silicon the second most abundant element in the crust (approximately **28 percent** by mass) behind oxygen**. When not previously present, [silicon](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/93606/what-is-silicon-valley-and-where-is-it-located)** is a naturally occurring element with a **400-year** residence time in the world's oceans. **\** **Natural [silicon](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/93606/what-is-silicon-valley-and-where-is-it-located)**-based materials have been used for thousands of years due to the abundance of silicon in the Earth's crust. Various ancient civilizations were familiar with silicon **rock** crystals, including the predynastic Egyptians who utilized it for beads and miniature vases, as well as the **ancient Chinese**. \ The **Egyptians**, as well as the ancient **Phoenicians**, have been producing glass containing silica since at least **1500 BC**. Natural silicate compounds were also utilized in the construction of early human houses in various forms of mortar. \ **Antoine Lavoisier** hypothesized in **1787** that silica was an oxide of a **fundamental chemical element**. **Thomas Thomson**, a **Scottish chemist**, gave silicon its current name in **1817**. He kept part of **Davy's** name but added '-on' because he thought silicon, like **boron** and **carbon**, was a **nonmetal**. \ **Jöns Jacob Berzelius** made amorphous silicon in **1824**, employing a procedure similar to **Gay**-**but Lussac's** refining the product to a brown powder by washing it repeatedly. As a result, he is frequently credited with discovering the element. In the same year, **Berzelius** became the first to produce **silicon** tetrachloride, after **Carl Wilhelm Scheele** made silicon tetrafluoride by dissolving **silica** in **hydrofluoric acid** in **1771**. --- Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/49217/when-and-who-invented-the-silicones Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.