Is germanium chemically similar to silicon?

Is germanium chemically similar to silicon?

Germanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ge and atomic number 32. It is a lustrous, hard-brittle, grayish-white metalloid in the carbon group, chemically similar to its group neighbors silicon and tin. Pure germanium is a semiconductor with an appearance similar to elemental silicon.

Why is germanium in the same group as silicon and tin?

Silicon and germanium are semimetals (metalloids), existing in compounds with either +4 or -4 charges. Tin and lead are definitely metals. They always lose electrons due to the distance of their outer shells from the nucleus. They usually form compounds as cations with a +4 charge.

Is germanium chemically inert?

Silicon and germanium have chemical properties intermediate between those of carbon and of tin and lead, but they resemble carbon more than they do the metals. At room temperature, both elements are rather inert toward all elemental substances except fluorine, with which they react vigorously to form tetrafluorides.

Is silicon a superconductor?

Silicon — the archetypal semiconductor — has at long last been shown to demonstrate superconductivity. By substituting 9% of the silicon atoms with boron atoms, physicists in France have found that the resistance of the material drops sharply when cooled below 0.35 K (Nature 444 465).

Is diamond a superconductor?

Diamond is an electrical insulator well known for its exceptional hardness. The discovery of superconductivity in diamond-structured carbon suggests that Si and Ge, which also form in the diamond structure, may similarly exhibit superconductivity under the appropriate conditions.

What material is a superconductor?

Superconductors are materials that conduct electricity with no resistance. This means that, unlike the more familiar conductors such as copper or steel, a superconductor can carry a current indefinitely without losing any energy.