Chemical element · Atomic number 14
Silicon
Silicon in the periodic table: atomic number 14, electron configuration, atomic mass, physical data, oxidation states, media credit and visible sources.
Metalloid
solid
28.085 u
Documented element sampleAn approximately two-centimetre piece of high-purity elemental silicon.
Image credit: Jurii
Auto-oriented, limited to 1600 × 1200 pixels and re-encoded as WebP; the subject was not altered.
Atomic classification
Shell occupancy
Silicon in the Bohr shell model
This shows the electron distribution of the neutral atom in a simplified shell model.
- K · n=1
- 2 electrons
- L · n=2
- 8 electrons
- M · n=3
- 4 electrons
- Electron configuration
- [Ne]3s2 3p2
- Electrons per shell
- 2 · 8 · 4
- Group
- 14
- Period
- 3
- Block
- P
- Element category
- Metalloid
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Physical and chemical properties
- Atomic mass
- 28.085 u
- Standard state
- solid
- Density
- 2.3296 g/cm³
- Melting point
- 1,687 K
- Boiling point
- 3,538 K
- Electronegativity
- 1.9 (Pauling)
- First ionisation energy
- 8.152 eV
- Oxidation states
- +4, +2, -4
- Discovery
- 1854
Safety and periodic classification
Safety
Safe handling cannot be inferred from Silicon's position in the periodic table alone. Laboratory, classroom and disposal decisions must follow the documentation for the exact material and its safety data sheet.
Position and comparison
Silicon is in period 3, group 14 and the P block. Its direct neighbours by atomic number are Aluminum and Phosphorus. The recorded Pauling electronegativity is 1.9. Periodic trends are compared only through the separately sourced neighbouring values.
Sources and scope
PubChem attributes element data to sources including IUPAC, NIST and IAEA. Quanta stores the referenced snapshot locally and leaves unknown values unavailable.