Silicon is not a rock so saying that silica is not rare is irrelevant to the “rare rock” line.
Silica is indeed refined but the rocks that they refine to get the pure silica are indeed rare rocks. They only really refine the pure silicate that already start with super low impurities. relatively speaking. And the low trace elements impurities is what makes them rare.
Not in the purity needed to make semiconductors.
It’s refined. It isn’t found like that.
Silicon is not a rock so saying that silica is not rare is irrelevant to the “rare rock” line.
Silica is indeed refined but the rocks that they refine to get the pure silica are indeed rare rocks. They only really refine the pure silicate that already start with super low impurities. relatively speaking. And the low trace elements impurities is what makes them rare.
Thank you for the information. This meme always bothered me, so glad to have the info.