What is rare earth means to people

A piece of rare earth ore. Photos: gallaries.com. Rare earth ores contain 17 elements with very small content in the earth's crust, such as Yttrium and lanthanum. They are in the middle of the periodic table of chemical elements. The first element in rare earth was discovered in 1787. Most of them are used in industry and defense. People use 17 rare earth elements to produce components in mobile phones, solar cells, high-performance electric motors, car engines that use both gasoline and electricity, magnets in electro-hydraulic generators. small and even devices in the universe.

In addition, rare earth is an important material for the development of energy forms that do not pollute the environment. The Christian Science Monitor newspaper said that in the early 40s, rare earth was something very few people knew. But after Frank Spedding, an American chemist, found a way to separate and refine each element, the scientific community paid attention to it. The effects of rare earths began to be discovered in the 60s.

Although known as rare earth, in fact the elements in rare earth are quite available in nature. Their popularity is similar to nickel or tin. But they are not easy to extract and extract.

Rare earth mines exist all over the world. The US Geological Department has identified a global total of rare earth reserves of 99 million tons, of which China has 36 million tons and the United States has 13 million tons.

17 elements in rare earth are special because they have many incredible physical properties. They create many wonderful uses when combined with other common ingredients. For example, Europium is the element that helps people turn black-and-white televisions into color TVs, Erbium is placed on fiber-optic cables that transmit data so that light in the cable goes further.

Some rare earth elements are used to produce smaller magnets but stronger for cars, computer drives, generators, engines and missile guidance systems. Many other elements increase the heat resistance of propellers in jet engines and increase the brightness of infrared binoculars (used to observe in the night).

The United States and some countries are a major source of rare earth for 50 years. But thanks to low labor costs and the absence of strict regulations on environmental protection, China becomes the world's lowest selling country for rare earths.

The US Geological Survey has confirmed that undiscovered rare earth mines in the world have reserves large enough to meet the needs of humanity in the future. However, the scientific community is not sure if new mines will be discovered in time to meet rising demand. According to the US Geological Bureau, the supply of rare earth will be about 40 thousand tons lower than demand over the next 5 years.