The Periodic Table

Silicon

Symbol: Si
Electron configuration: S1-2 S2-8, S3-4    
Melting point: 1,414 °C
Atomic mass: 28.0855 u ± 0.0003 u
Atomic number: 14
Boiling point: 3,265 °C

Silicon is a chemical element with symbol Si and atomic number 14. A hard and brittle crystalline solid with a blue-gray metallic luster, it is a tetravalent metalloid. 
It is a member of group 4 in the periodic table, along with Carbon above it and Germanium, Tin, Lead, and Flerovium below. It is not very reactive, although more reactive than Carbon, and has great chemical affinity for oxygen; it was first purified and characterised in 1823 by Jöns Jakob Berzelius.

Silicon is the eighth most common element in the universe by mass, but very rarely occurs as the pure element in the Earth's crust. It is most widely distributed in dusts, sands, planetoids, and planets as various forms of Silicon dioxide (silica) or silicates. Over 90% of the Earth's crust is composed of silicate minerals, making Silicon the second most abundant element in the Earth's crust (about 28% by mass) after Oxygen.

Most Silicon is used commercially without being separated, and often with little processing of the natural minerals. Such use includes industrial construction with clays, silica sand, and stone. Silicate is used in Portland cement for mortar and stucco, and mixed with silica sand and gravel to make concrete for walkways, foundations, and roads. Silicates are used in whiteware ceramics such as porcelain, and in traditional quartz-based soda-lime glass and many other speciality glasses. Silicon compounds such as Silicon carbide are used as abrasives and components of high-strength ceramics.