Question

Silicon is a/an:
a.) Good conductor
b.) Bad conductor
c.) Semiconductor
d.) Ore

Answer 1

Hint: Silicon could be a substance with the symbol $Si$ and number 14. It's a strong, brittle crystalline solid with a blue, grey metallic lustre, and it may be a tetravalent metalloid. It is a member of group 14 within the periodic table: carbon is above it, and germanium, tin, and lead are below it.

Complete step by step answer:
A material that enables electricity to tolerate it easily is termed a conductor. Metals, especially silver, are good electrical conductors.
The things which don't conduct electricity or heat are named as bad conductors.
Semiconductor is a material which contains both arguments and whose electrical conductivity value falls between the good conductor and bad or insulator.
Ore is a natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, usually metals, that can be extracted, processed and sold for profit. Ore is mined from the earth by digging and processed or refined, often by smelting, to extract precious metals or minerals.

Whereas silicon is:
Silicon is an inherent semiconductor.
Its electrical conductivity lies between the pure conductor and the insulator.
Germanium is another example of an endogenous semiconductor.
Hence, the correct answer is semiconductor.
Inherent (pure) semiconductor, also known as an undoped semiconductor is a pure semiconductor with no substantial doping species present. Therefore, the number of carriers of charges is determined by the properties of the material itself instead of the quantity of impurities
So, the correct answer is “Option C”.

Note: Pure silicon are weak conductors of electricity because their outer electrons are bound together in the covalent bonds of the diamond frame. Electrical conductivity decreases as the temperature of the metals increases, since the motions of the atoms make the passage of electrons more difficult.