Where does the silicon come from in life?

Although the surface of the earth's bottom crust contains more than 90 elements, in terms of mass ratio, the three elements (oxygen, silicon, and aluminum) that constitute the main components of rocks account for about three-quarters of the total mass of the crust. Among them, silicon accounts for about 25%.

According to the arrangement of the periodic table of elements, silicon is the 14th element and belongs to the fourth group. There are a total of 14 electrons outside the core of a silicon atom, but only 4 valence electrons form chemical bonds with other atoms, and the remaining 10 are inner electrons. The reason why the silicon-oxygen bond is so important is that each silicon atom is connected to four oxygen atoms through shared electron pairs, forming a tetrahedral structure. The silicon atom is located in the center of the regular tetrahedron, and each silicon atom is connected to the surrounding oxygen atoms. This forms quartz, a common silicon-oxygen compound in our lives.

Quartz is a silicon-oxygen tetrahedral crystal, which is composed of silicon atoms and oxygen atoms in a ratio of 1:2. It is usually called silicon dioxide in the industry. Silica molecules do not exist in nature and are generally found in the form of crystals. Similarly, each aluminum atom is connected to four oxygen atoms to form an aluminum-oxygen tetrahedron structure.

The various rocks that make up the earth's crust are mainly silicon-oxygen tetrahedrons and aluminum-oxygen tetrahedrons. After years of weathering of rocks, the action of plants and microorganisms finally formed sand, soil, and clay. Humans use soil to grow fruits, vegetables, grain, and livestock, as well as to bake pottery and build different types of buildings. In the history of human development, ancient people have long used clay and fired it at high temperatures to produce porcelain and other daily utensils for storing food, water, or boiling water. Cook staple food.

In the early days, silicates were used in bricks, cement, glass, and ceramics. After mankind entered the era of electrification, it was discovered that the capacity loss caused by the hysteresis effect could be reduced by adding a small amount of silicon and combining it with steel to synthesize silicon steel sheets as the core of motors and transformers.

As we all know, silicon and carbon are elements of the same group, and both have 4 valence electrons in the outermost shell of their atoms. Carbon atoms share electron pairs with other atoms to form carbon chains of varying complexity, which are the organic compounds that make up life. Although the atomic structures of silicon and carbon are similar, the silicon-silicon bond is a weak bond that is easily broken down by environmental changes. This is the fundamental reason why silicon-based organisms have not appeared on Earth.

Because polar silicon-oxygen bonds are so stable, a wide variety of complex compounds, also known as silicone compounds, can be synthesized. Commonly used polysiloxanes include silicone oil. Since the bond energy of silicon-oxygen bonds is higher than that of carbon-carbon bonds, silicone oil is more resistant to high temperatures than lubricants composed of carbon skeletons. In addition, the silicon-oxygen bond structure of the polymer is very stable, making silicone excellent in high-temperature resistance, low-temperature resistance, weather resistance, flame retardancy, radiation resistance, and insulation. The general forms of silicone include silicone oil, liquid silicone rubber, silicone resin, and solid silicone rubber, and are widely used in electronics, medical and health, food processing, and consumer products.

From ancient times, we have grown the food we depend on on the soil and fired cement to improve our living environment. In modern times, humans use it as a semiconductor material to manufacture complex components. Silicon is a key chemical element inseparable from human life.