• Silicon is the most important material used to make computers.motherboard image by dinostock from Fotolia.com
  
  The importance of the computer to life in the modern age cannot be overstated, with every facet of Western culture being helped along in some way by computers. Although they are complex machines capable of an increasingly large array of computations at once, computers are made of simple elements.
  
  

Silicon

• The most important element used in the manufacturing of semiconductor devices like those used in computers is silicon. Microchips and other integrated circuits are primarily made of silicon due to the ability of the element to remain a semiconductor even at higher temperatures than most other materials, which is an important quality for use in computers. When found in nature in a pure form, silicon appears to be a metallic substance that shines with a crystalline glow. Silicon is one of the most abundant elements on earth, second only to oxygen, and is one of the most versatile elements used by mankind. Sand is made up of silica, a form of silicon, and can be heated to form glass, and silicon can be blended with other elements like boron, gallium, phosphorus and arsenic and used in a wide range of devices, such as transistors, solar cells and rectifiers.
  
  

Copper

• Copper is well-known as an excellent conductor of electricity that is plentiful in the earth's crust and relatively inexpensive to mine and process, which makes it perfect for use in a computer's motherboard and associated wiring. Printed circuit boards are etched with copper to route electricity from power sources to the various computer components, integrated circuits and microchips are manufactured out of copper, and heat sinks that dissipate warmth in an operating computer are also made out of copper. In its raw form, copper has a reddish tint and a bright metallic luster. It is a soft metal when pure and can easily be shaped and formed, and its electrical conductivity is second only to silver (which is much more expensive and, therefore, more rarely used). There are large copper deposits in numerous places across North and South America and Africa.
  
  

Plastics

• Plastics are some of the most ubiquitous substances in the modern world and are present in so many manufactured items, a list would be hard to compile. Specifically in computers, plastics form the main material used for computer monitors, hardware housings, keyboards, mouse interfaces, etc. Basically, anything not made of metal in a computer is probably made of some sort of plastic. The most commonly used form of plastic in computers and affiliated hardware (printers, scanners, fax machines, etc.) is a thermoplastic called acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Its properties of strength, rigidity and toughness across a wide range of temperatures make it a perfect plastic for use in computers, as is its natural impact resistance.