is this silicon

[???]

i think i have a rock of pure silicon, what is something like this worth? it is about 1 inch high.

[UC]

Is it unusually light or unusually heavy for it's size? Galena (PbS) looks an awful lot like silicon except for it's density. Silicon is oddly lightweight.

 

Value depends entirely on purity and since we humans make vast quantities of ultrapure (99.9999+%) silicon for electronics it's value won't be terribly high in any case. More likely it is of lower purity from an earlier stage of refinement- at worst about 98%. You wouldn't be able to get more than a few dollars for it without knowing and even the ultrapure material wouldn't get you much more.

 

If it's galena, it won't be too valuable anyway as it is a fairly common mineral.

Edited July 27, 2010 by UC