Cerium silicide, CeSi₂

Cerium silicide, CeSi₂, is prepared by heating ceric oxide with silicon in the electric furnace. It forms small, lustrous crystals of density 5.67. It is decomposed by fluorine in the cold and by the other halogens when heated. It burns in oxygen at a red heat. Unlike the carbide, cerium silicide is scarcely affected by water or dilute alkalies, even when boiling; and although it dissolves in dilute hydrochloric and sulphuric acids, the gas evolved is pure hydrogen.