This investigation is concerned with determining whether a carbon substituent or a silicon substituent on the carbon terminus of a silicon-carbon double bond has a more stabilizing effect. Two different 2-substituted silaethylenes were generated at the same time by pyrolyzing 1, 1-dimethyl-2-neopentyl-4- (dimethylalkoxysilyl) silacyclobutanes in a nitrogen flow system. The results of these pyrolyses, both neat and in the presence of a trapping reagent, show that the silaethylene with a silicon substituent on the carbon terminus was favored approximately two to one over the silaethylene with a carbon substituent. This datum, along with other observations and hypotheses discussed, leads to the suggestion that the silicon substituenton the carbon terminus of the silaethylene bond has a more stabilizing effect than the carbon substituent.