silicon - a tetravalent nonmetallic element; next to oxygen it is the most abundant element in the earth's crust; occurs in clay and feldspar and granite and quartz and sand; used as a semiconductor in transistorschemical element, element - any of the more than 100 known substances (of which 92 occur naturally) that cannot be separated into simpler substances and that singly or in combination constitute all matter quartz - a hard glossy mineral consisting of silicon dioxide in crystal form; present in most rocks (especially sandstone and granite); yellow sand is quartz with iron oxide impurities clay - a very fine-grained soil that is plastic when moist but hard when fired semiconducting material, semiconductor - a substance as germanium or silicon whose electrical conductivity is intermediate between that of a metal and an insulator; its conductivity increases with temperature and in the presence of impurities feldspar, felspar - any of a group of hard crystalline minerals that consist of aluminum silicates of potassium or sodium or calcium or barium granite - plutonic igneous rock having visibly crystalline texture; generally composed of feldspar and mica and quartz sand - a loose material consisting of grains of rock or coral silicone, silicone polymer - any of a large class of siloxanes that are unusually stable over a wide range of temperatures; used in lubricants and adhesives and coatings and synthetic rubber and electrical insulation |