is silcon dioxide a very stable compound?

Question

how

Answer 1

SiO2 (silicon dioxide) is the predominent part of Quartz and has existed as a component of basement rocks over 2 billion years old. Most sand is silicon dioxide.

Answer 2

If you consider that quartz is the most abundant mineral in the crust, yes, it is very stable. Quartz (a common variety of SiO2) is found in all types of rocks: igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary. Just took at all the sands on the beaches, most of which are composed of rounded quartz fragments. Some silicon dioxide does make it way into water in the form of Si(OH)4, and it can become a weak acid in this form, but it has a very long existance on the surface of the Earth.

Answer 3

That is a good question. Beware of common misconception in answers. Silicon does not form double bonds with oxygen.

When silicon dioxide forms a whole network of single covalent bonds (which are fairly strong chemical bonds) form between oxygen and silicon atoms.
See this webpage for a diagram of how that is put together.
http://www.chemguide.co.uk/inorganic/group4/oxides.html

The name silicon dioxide can mislead people into thinking that double bonds form between the silicon and the oxygen atoms, but, while that fits with the old "octet rule" it doesn't happen in nature. Silicon is too large an atom to form double bonds. Carbon dioxide is a single molecule made of just two oxygens and one carbon.
IN contrast, silicon dioxide is not a single molecule like that. The name is more to point out that the proportion is two oxygens for every one silicon, but they form a giant network of bonds. Similar but not exactly the same as the way a bunch of carbon atoms can bond with each other to form a diamond. The carbon atoms in a diamond all form single covalent bonds. You could almost think of a diamond as being one giant molecule. A grain of sand, or, Silicon dioxide similarly could be thought of as one giant molecule--hard to break apart.

Answer 4

Sure is -- it's sand and glass