Silicon tetrachloride (SiCl 4) is used to create smoke screens. Sodium silicate (Na 2SiO 3), also known as water glass, is used in the production of soaps, adhesives and as an egg preservative. Silicon carbide (SiC) is nearly as hard as diamond and is used as an abrasive. Silica gel, a colloidal form of silicon dioxide, easily absorbs moisture and is used as a desiccant. Silicon dioxide is extensively used in the manufacture of glass and bricks. It commonly takes the form of ordinary sand, but also exists as quartz, rock crystal, amethyst, agate, flint, jasper and opal. Silicon dioxide (SiO 2), silicon's most common compound, is the most abundant compound in the earth's crust. These crystals, when doped with elements such as boron, gallium, germanium, phosphorus or arsenic, are used in the manufacture of solid-state electronic devices, such as transistors, solar cells, rectifiers and microchips. Single crystals of crystalline silicon can be grown with a process known as the Czochralski process. Amorphous appears as a brown powder while crystalline silicon has a metallic luster and a grayish color. Two allotropes of silicon exist at room temperature: amorphous and crystalline. Today, silicon is produced by heating sand (SiO 2) with carbon to temperatures approaching 2200☌. Silicon is the seventh most abundant element in the universe and the second most abundant element in the earth's crust. Silicon was discovered by Jöns Jacob Berzelius, a Swedish chemist, in 1824 by heating chips of potassium in a silica container and then carefully washing away the residual by-products.
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