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Elements in the same column in the periodic table share many chemical properties with each other. They are in the same column because they have the same number of electrons in their outer shell, and by and large it's outer shell electrons that determine chemical bonding behavior.
Because silicon is directly below carbon, and because carbon's chemical properties are the basis of life, people sometimes speculate on whether silicon could form the bases for a whole other system of life. So far the closest anyone has come to finding such life forms is an episode of Star Trek. And if there is ever life based on silicon, it's a pretty safe bet that it won't be because of silicon's chemical similarity to carbon, but rather because it's a semiconductor out of which you can build electronic computers.
Silicon is also distinguished by the fact that huge quantities of it are refined to a higher purity than any other substance ever has been. The routine creation of multi-hundred pound single crystals of hyper-pure silicon, and their subsequent slicing into wafers and etching into microcircuits, is perhaps the defining technical wonder of our age. Just as cathedral building was the ultimate expression of medieval technology, the handling of silicon is ours.
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 Silicon Boule Top.
This is the cut-off top of a cylindrical crystal grown for slicing into wafers for chip fabrication. The cone-shaped top where the crystal started growing is waste in this process. Purchased in May 2002 through eBay from SoCal (Nevada), Inc, 909-302-9413, socal403@earthlink.net.
This is a weird substance, especially the glossy melt surface. It's so clearly half way between a metal and not a metal: Shiny and lustrous like platinum, yet crystalline and brittle like sulfur. Listen to the sound of this sample and contrast it with the sounds of lumps or bars of metal: It's definitely not a metal sound.
When the package arrived, our teenage baby-sitter took one look at it and said "THAT'S SILICONE???!!". Given the shape and her confusion between silicon and silicone, it's not hard to imagine what was going through her mind.
Source: SoCal (Nevada), Inc
Contributor: Theodore Gray
Acquired: 11 May, 2002
Price: $30
Size: 4"
Purity: 99.9999%
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 Chunk of 99.9999% crystal.
Kindly donated by David Franco, who sent many elements after seeing the slashdot discussion.
Source: David Franco
Contributor: David Franco
Acquired: 17 May, 2002
Price: Donated
Size: 1.5"
Purity: 99.9999%
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Crumb of asteroid.
Ed talked to Doug Bowman, a local mathematician and asteroid and puzzle collector. (He collects asteroids and puzzles, not mathematicians.) Doug has many nice iron meteorites but was willing to donate this primarily silicon-based one because it was all broken up already.
Source: Doug Bowman
Contributor: Doug Bowman
Acquired: 12 July, 2002
Price: Donated
Size: 0.2"
Purity: >50%
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Sample from the Everest Element Set.
Up until the early 1990's a company in Russia sold a periodic table collection with element samples. At some point their American distributor sold off the remaining stock to a man who is now selling them on eBay. The samples (excepted gasses) weight about 0.25 grams each, and the whole set comes in a very nice wooden box with a printed periodic table in the lid.
To learn more about the set you can visit my page about element collecting for a general description and information about how to buy one, or you can see photographs of all the samples from the set displayed on my website in a periodic table layout or with bigger pictures in numerical order.
Source: Rob Accurso
Contributor: Rob Accurso
Acquired: 7 February, 2003
Price: Donated
Size: 0.2"
Purity: >99%
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