The element is abundant in earths crust and combines with oxygen to form rocks and minerals. what element is it?

The element is silicon (Si). It forms minerals like quartz and rocks such as granite.

You would be correct, boiling water does disinfect contamination.    the property of disinfecting means to kill  germs, bacteria and other pathogens or contamination  that might cause an infection or cause a person to become sickly. a couple methods of disinfecting are using soap, other cleaning supplies or by simply "boiling" the contaminate.  the reason why boiling water disinfects certain attributes is because some cells cannot survive the heat and pressure.