Silicon is also tetravalent like carbon but why it does not combine with so many elements to form thousands of - Science - Carbon and its Compounds

Question

Silicon is also tetravalent like carbon but why it does not
combine with so many elements to form thousands of covalent
compunds just like carbon does ?

Priya G N · Accepted Answer

Carbon can show catenation to large extent (from chains containing
20 or more carbon atoms, and the C-C bond is very strong and hence
stable) whereas silicon shows catenation to small extent only (form
chains containing up to 7 or 8 silicon atoms, with weak Si-Si bond
and these compounds are very reactive) Hence silicon does not
combine with so many elements to form thousands of covalent
compounds just like carbon does

This is because the property of catenation depends on the ability
of an element to catenate is primarily based on the bond energy of
the element to itself, which decreases with more diffuse orbitals
(those with higher azimuthal quantum number) overlapping to form
the bond

Even though carbon and silicon both contain 4 valence electrons;
Carbon has 6e = azimuthal quantum number 2 (2s, 2p) while Silicon
has 14e = azimuthal quantum number 3 (3s, 3p)

Hence, carbon, small in size with the least diffuse valence shell p
orbital is capable of forming longer p-p sigma bonded chains of
atoms than silicon (heavier than carbon) which bond via higher
valence shell orbitals

The bond energy of C-C bond (348 kJ/mol) is more than Si-Si bond
(225 kJ/mol) and thus catenation is shown by mainly carbon in the
carbon family

Silicon is also tetravalent like carbon but why it does not combine with so many elements to form thousands of covalent compunds just like carbon does ?