Silicon Plays Well with Others

As carbon is to living things, silicon is to rocks. Silicate minerals comprise most of the rocks on Earth, and silicon is extremely compliant. Carbon wanted to have a party and invited other elements. The noble gasses remained aloof, what with being noble and all. The fun started when silicon showed up, since it mixes well with a passel of other minerals.

The garnet gemstone has silica in its composition. Credit: Morguefile / arien

Silicon is plentiful, and its ability to combine with other elements gives us a tremendous variety of shapes and colors in rocks. More than that, our Creator engineered silicon so we could use it in many applications and improve our earthly lives. Not just function, but our viewing pleasure.

So why do minerals have so many different shapes and colors? The answer tells us a lot about God’s love and care for us. He created a small set of basic building blocks, out of which the earth could provide the amazing variety of minerals we need to build places to live and grace our lives with beautiful gems.

The marvelous stability and interlocking properties of minerals, which have such an amazing variety of applications—from the yellow paint on our kitchen walls to the glass in our windows—point clearly to the handiwork of the Creator, who “formed the earth . . . to be inhabited” (Isaiah 45:18 ESV).

To read the rest of the article (and get a lesson in basic chemistry), click on "Shape-Shifting Silicon".