Silicone

The term “silicone” must not be confused with the name of the chemical element silicon., Silicone is a collective term for organosilicon compounds.

The term “silicon” refers to the chemical element, the term “silicone” to the compounds. “Silicone” is a rather unspecific name for a multitude of different compounds; for greater clarity, terms can be used which specify at least the group of the silicon compound, such as “silane“ or "polysiloxane” or “polydimethylsiloxane". The latter is a major group of organosilicon compounds; often, they are commonly referred to as silicones. To avoid the long complicated word while still using the chemically correct name, the acronym “PDMS” is often used.