Silicon °C respectively are the second-highest among all the metalloids and nonmetals, being only surpassed by boron. Silicon is the eighth most common element in the universe by mass, but very rarely occurs as the pure element in the Earth's crust. It is most widely distributed in dusts, sands, planetoids, and planets as various forms of silicon dioxide (silica) or silicates. More than 90% of the Earth's crust is composed of silicate minerals, making silicon the second most abundant element in the Earth's crust (about 28% by mass) after oxygen. Most silicon is used commercially without being separated, and often with
Germanium in his Periodic Table of the Elements, located between silicon and tin. Because of its position in his Periodic Table, Mendeleev called it "ekasilicon (Es)", and he estimated its atomic weight to be about 72.0. In mid-1885, at a mine near Freiberg, Saxony, a new mineral was discovered and named "argyrodite" because of the high silver content. The chemist Clemens Winkler analyzed this new mineral, which proved to be a combination of silver, sulfur, and a new element. Winkler was able to isolate the new element in 1886 and found it similar to antimony. He initially considered the new element