carbon group elementArticle Free Pass Except for germanium and
the artificially produced flerovium, all of these elements are
familiar in daily life either as the pure element or in the form
of compounds, although, except for silicon, none is particularly
plentiful in the Earth’s crust. Carbon forms an almost infinite
variety of compounds, in both the plant and animal kingdoms.
Silicon and silicate minerals are fundamental components of the
Earth’s crust; silica (silicon dioxide) is sand. Tin and lead,
with abundances in the crust lower than those of some so-called
rare elements, are nevertheless common in everyday life. They
occur in highly concentrated mineral deposits, can be obtained
easily in the metallic state from those minerals, and are useful
as metals and as alloys in many applications. Germanium, on the
other hand, forms few characteristic minerals and is most
commonly found only in small concentrations in association with
the mineral zinc blende and in coals. Although germanium is
indeed one of th