KAWC is starting a new initiative to reach out to local scientists and learn from members of the community. This is our first Yuma Science Chat.
Scott Donnelly, chemistry professor at Arizona Western College, joined Arizona Science Desk reporter Amanda Solliday to discuss rare earth metals. These metals are critical for modern society and not easily mined.
Solliday: I’m Amanda Solliday. I’m here with Scott Donnelly, chemistry professor at Arizona Western College.
Donnelly: Hello Amanda, thank for inviting me.
Solliday: Some of our listeners right now might be on their cell phones, but you might not know what goes into making this type of communication work.
And so, Scott, you’re a chemist. Is there any part of the periodic table that’s really important for making cell phones?
Donnelly: Certainly. At the very bottom of the periodic table is a row of 14 elements called the rare earth metals. And these are the elements that are pivotal to making cell phone communication what it is.
Solliday: So tell me more about that.
Donnelly: Well first of all, an average smartphone may contain up to about 62 different types of metals. Many of the vivid red, blue and green colors that you see on your screen are due to the rare earth metals, which are also used in the circuitry and in the speakers of the smartphone.
And also, your smartphone would not be able to vibrate without neodymium and also dysprosium, which are two rare earth metals.
Solliday: So it seems like today, with the prevalence of technology, these metals are becoming more and more important.
Donnelly: Sure, there’s hundreds of applications for the rare earth metals. And their use ranges from the mundane as you find they’re used in lighter flints and they’re used to polish glass.
But they’re also used in high-tech devices that involve lasers, magnets, batteries, and the phosphors that you find in fluorescent lights.
And fiber optic cables are doped with the rare earth metal erbium, because erbium acts as a laser amplifier, which basically allows greater transmission of the signal over a longer distance without the actual reduction of the signal output.
Solliday: I was wondering if these rare earth metals are still mined in Arizona today or anywhere in the Southwest.
Donnelly: They’re not mined in Arizona, but they are mined in the Southwest. The company Molycorp owns a rare earth-producing mine called Mountain Pass, which is located about an hour southwest of Las Vegas in the Mojave Desert.
But this summer Molycorp filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and basically that’s the only mine site in the United States that mines rare earth elements. Nowhere else in the United States do we do that.
Solliday: So where do we get these elements now?
Donnelly: All comes from China. China controls the entire global market. So we’re kind of at a strategic disadvantage in our reliance on these rare earth metals.
So with regards to recycling, when you turn your smartphone in, somebody wants it. You don’t just chunk them anymore.
And the reason being because of those rare earth metals. And other things that are in there as well that the company wants and they take it back and recycle that material through.
Now in terms of recycling, you don’t have to wholly rely on a supply coming from somewhere else.
Solliday: Is there anything else that listeners would want to know about rare earth metals? Anything else that excites you about this part of the periodic table?
Donnelly: The periodic table is just fascinating. Basically what I tell my students, it is what life is from a physical perspective.
And certainly, everything’s tied into the periodic table. Obviously I’m going to say that, I’m a chemist.
Solliday: Thanks for being here today. This was fun.
Donnelly: I appreciate the opportunity.
Solliday: We hope to have more science chats like this in the future, and we want to encourage listeners to submit questions online. Thanks for listening.