Week 7

1. The semiconductor that I chose is Silicon. Silicon has an atomic number of 14. 25.7% of the earth's crust is made of silicon. It is the second most abundant element on earth, oxygen being the first most abundant. Silicon is also present in the sun and starts . Silicon can be found largely as silicon oxide and in things such as quartz, agate, jasper and opal. It also can be found in minerals such as asbestos, clay and mica. Silicon is important for plant and animal life. Silicon can be found in steel.

2. I think that alchemy can fall under science, magic and art. When looking up the definition of alchemy the word magical was used saying, "any magical process of transmuting a common substance". Alchemy should be considered a type of science too. Alchemy can before chemistry and medicine and was big help in those fields developing. It also takes a lot of science to be able to transform substances. I see how people can see alchemy as art also. Transforming substances into other things can be considered an art to people.

3. I thought this weeks topic was very interesting. I did not know what alchemy was before. It is nice to learn where some of the roots of medicine and chemistry come from. I would like to hear a little more about alchemy in our Western society. But it seems that most of the time people are more into hearing hard scientific fact.