Pick a chemical industry or book chapter Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Pick a chemical industry or book chapter - Essay Example Modern technology, as we know it today, greatly depends on silicon-based products. The majority of building stone, clays and silica are the silicon products and vastly used in the construction industry. Glass, polymers, silicon-metals and ceramics and semiconductors made from silicon are low cost allow for high quality packaging (Wilamowski & Irwin 145). The final commodities of silicon are absolutely necessary in the modern world because of our immense dependence on this element. If silicon based commodities are short the world economy might collapse. Technology and construction industry cannot survive without silicon-based products. Structural compounds such as silicate minerals or silica, also known as crude silicon dioxide, form the backbone of the construction industry. Portland cement is a crucial and commodity of silicon. It is usually combined with gravel and sand to make concrete. Silicon is also used to make a ceramic called firebrick. Natural aluminium phyllosilicates form s an essential component of the whiteware ceramics. Similarly porcelain is often used in art projects and for domestic purposes. Silica-based soda lime glass or the common glass that is used in homes is also a silicon product. And finally fiberglass, glass fibers and optical fibers (including glassful) are the end products of silicon element that form the backbone in ceramics industry. The majority of industry produced silicon is kept in ferrosilicon alloy form. About 15% of the worlds production of metallurgical grade silicon is used in semiconductors. The element used for this purpose is highly refined and only forms a fraction of the total production. Silicon’s crystalline nature gives it significant electrical and mechanical advantages (Maluf & Williams 13). The monocrystalline silicon form is used in integrated circuits and in terms of leverage (comparing the quantity produced against its usage) the highly refined form is extremely valuable in the electronics