// MATTER · ELEMENT 14 / 118atoms.no/elements
Si14
Silicon
Si·Z 14·Metalloid·28.09·⭕ 3B · D♭ Major
▸ The reading
interpretive · artSilicon is the crust's second-most-abundant element, the tetrahedral backbone of nearly every rock underfoot — and we refine it to nine-nines purity so it can think for us. Oxygen-burning stars forged it; the microprocessor age merely rearranged it. Sand to wafer is the sharpest redemption arc on the table.
The science below is cited as science; the symbolic layers are flagged as interactive art.
⚜ Periodic Frequency
3BD♭ Major
a seat struck in brass — testimony, not prediction
the seat has its own room on ⭕ THE OVAL TABLE — tap the code
▸ The lenses
▸ Discovery
Jöns Jacob Berzelius — reduced potassium fluorosilicate with potassium · Sweden · 1824
▸ Stellar origin
Oxygen-burning in massive starsAt ~10⁹ K, oxygen nuclei fuse to silicon, sulfur, and phosphorus. Silicon then triggers the final 'silicon burning' that builds iron-peak elements.
▸ Reactivity
Forms tetrahedral SiO₄ — the backbone of nearly every rockSemiconductor when pure. Doping silicon by parts per billion changes everything about its conductivity.
▸ Applications
- Integrated circuits and microprocessors
- Solar photovoltaics
- Glass and ceramics
- Silicones (medical implants, sealants)
▸ Curiosity
Computing runs on the second-most-abundant element in Earth's crust — refined to nine-nines purity.
▸ Related readings
a resonance drawn between readings — not a claim that they share an origin.
Group 14CCarbonGeGermanium
Period 3AlAluminiumPPhosphorus
p-blockAlAluminiumPPhosphorus
Adjacent ZAlAluminiumPPhosphorus