Colorless transparent crystal

In the early days of the Republic of China, scholars originally translated this element into "Silicon" and made it read "Xi" (also, the word "Silicon" was originally a variant of the word "砉", read Huo). However, at that time, because the Pinyin scheme had not been popularized, the general public often misread it as GUI. Since the transliteration of chemical element translation words is mostly used in addition to the original Chinese namers, the Chemical Society noticed this problem, so it created the word "Silicon" to avoid misreading. Taiwan still uses the word "Silicon". The Chinese mainland held a nationwide Forum on the naming of chemical substances in China in February 1953. Some scholars have passed and published the "Silicon" and read "Gui" by "Silicon" and other chemical elements, "tin" and "selenium". But they did not realize that the word "Silicon" should also read Xi. Interestingly, words such as silicosis and silicon steel sheet still use silicon. In Hong Kong, dual-use methods exist, but "Silicon" is more common.

Pure silicon carbide is a colorless and transparent crystal. Industrial silicon carbide is light yellow, green, blue and even black due to different types and contents of impurities, and the transparency varies with its purity. Silicon carbide crystal structure is divided into hexagonal or rhombohedral α- SiC and cube β- SiC (cubic silicon carbide). α- SiC has many different variants due to the different stacking sequences of carbon and silicon atoms in its crystal structure, and more than 70 kinds have been found. β- SiC changes to when the temperature is above 2100 ℃ α- SiC。

Silicon carbide is also known as steel sand or refractory sand. The molecular formula is SiC, its hardness is between corundum and diamond, and its mechanical strength is higher than corundum. It can be used as abrasive and some other industrial materials. Industrial silicon carbide was successfully developed in 1891. It is the earliest artificial abrasive. Although a small amount of silicon carbide exists in meteorite and crust, no ore source for mining has been found so far.