Question

Carborundum is:
(a)$A{{l}_{2}}{{O}_{3}}$
(b)SiC
(c)$B{{F}_{3}}$
(d)${{B}_{4}}C$

Answer 1

Hint: We are very familiar that metals are obtained from various ores which are naturally present in nature along with some impurities and the carborundum is also an ore which finds highly application in making semiconductors.

Complete answer:
We have studied various metals and theories related to them from lower classes, now let us discuss a few basic ideas about them.
We know that we obtain metals in the form of naturally occurring minerals. And we call these naturally occurring minerals as ores. The ores undergo several industrial processes to obtain pure metals which can be used for engineering purposes. The extraction of minerals from the corresponding ore is called metallurgy. The ores of a metal also contain minor concentrations of other metals and impurities which is called gangue.
The ores present in nature are classified into few according to the nature in which the metal is present. Some of them are halide ores (present as metal halides), oxidized ores (contains metals in the oxidized state as carbonates, phosphates etc.), native ores (present as free metal) and sulphurised ores (Present as sulphides).
Carborundum is the ore used to extract silicon which is a semiconductor and is used in designing and manufacturing of semi-conducting devices like diodes, transistors etc. Carborundum is the other name for Silicon carbide which is represented as SiC, which consists of silicon and carbon. And the semiconducting SiC occurs in nature only in the form of meteoroids.
It has very good electron mobility because of which it finds application in semiconducting devices. The SiC is a colored crystalline compound. The colour of the compound ranges from bluish black to green to yellow.

Hence the correct answer for the above given question is option (b).

Note:
SiC is synthetically prepared by a sintering process. SiC is prepared by combining Si sand with carbon in an Acheson graphite electric resistance furnace. The temperature of the furnace is maintained between a range of ${{1600}^{\circ }}C-{{2500}^{\circ }}C$.The silica fume formed is then heated with graphite to form SiC.
The pure SiC is colorless in nature and the colour and luster of the SiC is due the impurities like iron impurities and the layer of silicon dioxide formed due to reaction with oxygen.