Silicones are the current synthetic object class, and they contribute to thousands of applications that provide safety and well-being in everyday life. Silicones are a broad class of high-performance materials that include silicone fluids, silicone polymers, and reactive silanes.
These materials are widely employed in a wide range of industrial and consumer products, and they provide critical benefits in a number of fields such as personal care, health care, aerospace, transportation, electronics, and construction.
The following are some of the most frequent qualities of silicones:
Silicones are typically made from pure silicon, which is derived via high-temperature reduction of silicon dioxide (silica) in the form of sand with carbon:
SiO2(s) + 2C(s) → Si(s) + 2CO(g)
Silicones are typically synthesized from silicon in three stages:
a) Chlorosilane synthesis
b) Chlorosilane hydrolysis
c) Condensation polymerization
When silicone is burnt in the presence of oxygen, it produces white powder, char, and different gases as well as solid silica (silicon dioxide). The easily dispersed powder is also known as silica fume.
Yes, there is an isotope of silicon. There are five known isotopes of silicon, three of which are found naturally. The naturally occurring isotopes of silicon are silicon-28, silicon-29, and silicon-30. Aside from naturally occurring isotopes, silicon contains well-known manmade radioactive isotopes.