America gave up its rare earth edge. China took full advantage.

Look around you, and you’ll see rare earth elements at work. A phone vibrates because a magnet moves a weight . Its screen was polished with cerium powder. Its connection to the rest of the world crosses oceans on cables amplified with erbium . If you drove today, a rare earth magnet helped you steer, and a cerium compound scrubbed the exhaust . All of these devices function because of 17 metals collectively known as rare earth elements . The scientists who gave the group that name in 1794 created a misnomer. Cerium alone is about as common in the Earth’s crust as copper. However, separating rare earth minerals from one another and from raw ore is intensely difficult. As a result, countries that control the processing of rare earth minerals have a lot of political leverage. Read full article Comments

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