Blog #16
Title: Where to Find Rare Earth Elements
Author: Ainissa Ramirez
Source: PBS
Date: April 2, 2013
URL: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/rare-earth-elements-in-cell-phones/?utm_source=FBPAGE&utm_medium=social&utm_term=20190126&utm_content=2098983887&utm_campaign=NOVA+Next&linkId=62767578&fbclid=IwAR14AFWXu89s-Q-SBWC1-tz2zN5JL2zLyXSkCW2abCFh2JGJqtiNnCmEgBE
Every cell phone is made with a few grams of rare earths. While this many not seem like a lot, there are so many phones circulating in our society that it adds up to be a lot. In addition to cell phones, virtually everything that has a screen or a speaker is using rare earths. Most of these elements, 97% actually, are solely in China, who has driven up costs because of all their demand. Many countries are trying to find another other places to get rare earths, like when the US opened Mountain Pass, the biggest resource in the US. They had to close it down due to environmental problems. Rare earths are difficult to mine and they also need to be separated from the surrounding rock to be useful. Because of this, it's important that we don't take our devices for granted and try to recycle them\ when possible, so we don't run out of rare earths and God forbid, our iPhones
Author: Ainissa Ramirez
Source: PBS
Date: April 2, 2013
URL: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/rare-earth-elements-in-cell-phones/?utm_source=FBPAGE&utm_medium=social&utm_term=20190126&utm_content=2098983887&utm_campaign=NOVA+Next&linkId=62767578&fbclid=IwAR14AFWXu89s-Q-SBWC1-tz2zN5JL2zLyXSkCW2abCFh2JGJqtiNnCmEgBE
Every cell phone is made with a few grams of rare earths. While this many not seem like a lot, there are so many phones circulating in our society that it adds up to be a lot. In addition to cell phones, virtually everything that has a screen or a speaker is using rare earths. Most of these elements, 97% actually, are solely in China, who has driven up costs because of all their demand. Many countries are trying to find another other places to get rare earths, like when the US opened Mountain Pass, the biggest resource in the US. They had to close it down due to environmental problems. Rare earths are difficult to mine and they also need to be separated from the surrounding rock to be useful. Because of this, it's important that we don't take our devices for granted and try to recycle them\ when possible, so we don't run out of rare earths and God forbid, our iPhones
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