In praise of silicon

What do sand, stone age flint tools, a Victorian magnifying glass and the camera used to photograph them all have in common? The answer is that they each contain a lot of silicon.

Silicon (Si) is the eighth most common element in the universe by mass and 0ver 90% of the Earth's crust is composed of silicate minerals. Sand, flint, the glass in the camera's lens, the integrated circuits that control the camera and the computer used to send the final image to blipfoto.com, all consist largely of silicon.

The fingers holding the magnifying lens also need their own bit of silicon where it plays a role in normal metabolism and in connective tissue, especially in bone and cartilage.

Useful stuff, silicon!