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July 8, 2005

Strange But True!

Q. Silicon — sandy beaches are loaded with it, as is much of Earth's surface. So what's so special about the stuff that it lent its name to California's "Silicon Valley," symbol of the Computer Age?

A. It was long thought there are conductors like metals that conduct electricity and insulators like glass or wood or cork that don't, says David Bodanis in "Electric Universe." But the element silicon, it was discovered, is a "semiconductor," sometimes acting as an insulator, sometimes as a conductor.


 
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