No, no, no.....What we REALLY need here is a CHEMISTRY FORUM discussing inorganic chemistry as it applies to PowerPC processors and the latest greatest advances in integrated circuit design. Imagine this...discussing the probability of a neutrino colliding with an array of 29-Silicon atoms (as opposed to 28-Silicon, the most abundent naturally occuring isotope) whose nuclear spins are coupled (I=+1/2; it's a nuclear spin active isotope with a natural abundance of 4.67(1)%, and therefore observable in NMR spectra) such that it creates a cascading nuclear spin flip throughout the array. How fast would the cascade (domino effect) be? Would an electron travel along Silicon's sigma bonds faster than the cascade in flipping nuclear spins? What's the probablility of having 29-Si atoms with a natural abundance of 4.67(1)% forming a localized array in a microchip? I really have no idea, but it sure sounds like the start of a very lively discussion. You see, Silicon is the only element whose sigma-bonded electrons behave similarly to the delocalized electrons in carbon pi-bonds. Pi-bonded electrons don't just float around a pair of atomic nuclei, they travel throughout the entire molecule. This same fortuitous event happens with silicon, only with sigma-bonded electrons. Hmmm...how interesting...
THE "Über Nerd"