Period 3 element density and for its ability to resist corrosion due to the phenomenon of passivation. Structural components made from aluminium and its alloys are vital to the aerospace industry and are important in other areas of transportation and structural materials. The most useful compounds of aluminium, at least on a weight basis, are the oxides and sulfates. "Silicon" (symbol Si) is a tetravalent metalloid. It is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table. Controversy about silicon's character dates to
SI derived unit m), the SI derived unit of density. The names of SI derived units, when written in full, are in lowercase. However, the symbols for units named after persons are written with an uppercase initial letter. For example, the symbol for hertz is "Hz"; but the symbol for metre is "m". The International System of Units assigns special names to 22 derived units, which includes two dimensionless derived units, the radian (rad) and the steradian (sr). Some other units such as the hour, litre, tonne, bar and electronvolt are not SI units, but are widely used in conjunction with SI units.