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.

Articles are all over the web right now, but here’s one I enjoyed:
http://www.coronene.com/blog/?p=931

-Craig