Every chemist loves thermite – a mixture of an oxidized metal and powdered aluminum that uses an external heat source to start a redox reaction that is very exothermic.
Most of us are only familiar with iron thermite. A small number of us are familiar with the more esoteric forms, like copper or chromium thermite. Well, it turns out that one can use aluminum and an oxidized metalloid, like silicon, to produce a thermite reaction. Oxidized silicon, you might ask? Indeed.
