On its own, silicon makes lustrous, blue-grey crystals, but its chemical properties—namely, its affinity for oxygen ... Another form, amorphous silicon, is used to make the glass that covers ...
In 1811 Gay-Lussac and Thenard probably obtained impure amorphous silicon by heating potassium with silicon tetrafluoride; however, the discovery of this element is usually credited to Berzelius ...