silicon
a nonmetallic element, having amorphous and crystalline forms, occurring in a combined state in minerals and rocks and constituting more than one fourth of the earth's crust: used in steelmaking, alloys, etc. Symbol: Si; atomic weight: 28.086; atomic number: 14; specific gravity: 2.4 at 20°C.
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Origin of silicon
1Words that may be confused with silicon
- silicon , silicone
Words Nearby silicon
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use silicon in a sentence
The company first introduced its own silicon with the M1 chip included in November refreshes of the low-end 13-inch MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini.
Report: New MacBook Pro models will arrive this year with MagSafe, M1 successor | Samuel Axon | January 15, 2021 | Ars TechnicaStoring all this data could quickly become impractical using conventional silicon technology, but DNA could hold the answer.
New Research Could Enable Direct Data Transfer From Computers to Living Cells | Edd Gent | January 11, 2021 | Singularity HubThe next step is to put it all together… If we can combine all that, we’ll beat silicon.
This Week’s Awesome Tech Stories From Around the Web (Through December 19) | Singularity Hub Staff | December 19, 2020 | Singularity HubIn fact, the APCN material can boost the efficiency of a silicon solar cell by up to 24 percent, Empa’s scientists report.
Flexible devices may help clothes solar power your screens | Shi En Kim | December 16, 2020 | Science News For StudentsThe company is using a different hardware approach that replaces the specially designed, supercooled silicon chips favored by Google and IBM with laser-guided atoms in the machine’s guts.
A brilliant silicon Valley entrepreneur may have found a way to get dark money out of politics without changing any laws.
Greer is a young, entrepreneurial, poker-loving Texan who ended up in silicon Valley.
In silicon Valley proper, that number increases to $108,603, marking a 7.2 percent year-over-year increase.
Silicon Valley Interns Make a Service Worker’s Yearly Salary In Three Months | Samantha Allen | November 25, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTNormally Democratic silicon Valley opened up its wallets to the Republicans this time out.
South of silicon Valley, an entire town is being deformed, slowly, by plate tectonics.
You do the same with an ordinary piece of silicon for comparison and then seal both tubes with an oxygen-gas torch.
The Atomic Fingerprint | Bernard KeischYou break the quartz tubes one at a time and attach each of the two pieces of silicon to a card with self-sticking tape.
The Atomic Fingerprint | Bernard KeischHe was still wearing the blue blazer and khakis he wore on the days that he was consulting in silicon Valley.
Little Brother | Cory Doctorowsilicon steel and manganese steel are sometimes classed as alloy steels.
Oxy-Acetylene Welding and Cutting | Harold P. ManlyThese powders may contain borax or salt, and to prevent a hard, brittle weld, graphite or ferro-silicon may be added.
Oxy-Acetylene Welding and Cutting | Harold P. Manly
British Dictionary definitions for silicon
/ (ˈsɪlɪkən) /
a brittle metalloid element that exists in two allotropic forms; occurs principally in sand, quartz, granite, feldspar, and clay. It is usually a grey crystalline solid but is also found as a brown amorphous powder. It is used in transistors, rectifiers, solar cells, and alloys. Its compounds are widely used in glass manufacture, the building industry, and in the form of silicones. Symbol: Si; atomic no: 14; atomic wt: 28.0855; valency: 4; relative density: 2.33; melting pt: 1414°C; boiling pt: 3267°C
(modifier; sometimes capital) denoting an area of a country that contains a density of high-technology industry
Origin of silicon
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for silicon
[ sĭl′ĭ-kŏn′ ]
A metalloid element that occurs in both gray crystalline and brown noncrystalline forms. It is the second most abundant element in the Earth's crust and can be found only in silica and silicates. Silicon is used in glass, semiconductors, concrete, and ceramics. Atomic number 14; atomic weight 28.086; melting point 1,410°C; boiling point 2,355°C; specific gravity 2.33; valence 4. See Periodic Table.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Cultural definitions for silicon
[ (sil-i-kon, sil-i-kuhn) ]
A chemical element from which semiconductors are made. It is also used in the manufacture of glass, concrete, brick, and pottery.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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