Germanium is a
chemical element with symbol
Ge and
atomic number 32. It is a lustrous, hard, grayish-white
metalloid in the
carbon group, chemically similar to its group neighbors
tin and
silicon. Purified germanium is a
semiconductor, with an appearance most similar to elemental silicon. Like silicon, germanium naturally reacts and forms complexes with
oxygen in nature. Unlike silicon, it is too reactive to be found naturally on Earth in the free (native) state.