Strontium Silicide, SrSi₂

Strontium Silicide, SrSi₂, has been obtained by the reduction of a mixture of strontium oxide and silica by means of carbon in the electric furnace. It may also be prepared by heating together silicon and strontium oxide in an ordinary furnace.

It is a white or bluish-white compound of metallic appearance, possessing a crystalline fracture and oxidising slowly in the air to silica and strontium oxide. It is decomposed by water with the formation of strontium hydroxide, silica, and hydrogen.