In a vintage science fiction movie, space travelers find themselves on a planet orbiting a distant star in which there are curio
us forms of life based on silicon instead of carbon. Although the story clearly is a sci-fi, the choice of silicon as this alien life-form's central atom instead of carbon, seems plausible or credible, beacuse silicon has 14 protons. This means that silicon
Silicon has 14 protons, so its neutral atom has also 14 electrons, thus, the electron distribution following the Linus Pauling's diagram is:
1s² 2s²2p⁶ 3s²3p²
Thus, it has 4 electrons in its valence shell (3), likely carbon. So, silicon would have some of the properties of carbon, such as form 4 bonds, and the structure would be similar.
