Frank Herbert’s space opera Dune, a precious natural substance called spice melange grants people the ability to navigate vast expanses of the cosmos to build an intergalactic civilization.In real life here on Earth, a group of natural metals known as the rare earths has made possible our own technology-powered society. Demand for these crucial components in nearly all modern electronics is skyrocketing.
Rare earths fulfill thousands of different needs — cerium, for instance, is used as a catalyst to refine petroleum, and gadolinium captures neutrons in nuclear reactors. But these elements’ most outstanding capabilities lie in their luminescence and magnetism.We rely on rare earths to color our smartphone screens, fluoresce to signal authenticity in euro banknotes and relay signals through fiber-optic cables across the seafloor. They are also essential for building some of the world’s strongest and most reliable magnets. They generate sound waves in your headphones, boost digital information through space and shift the trajectories of heat-seeking missiles. Rare earths are also driving the growth of green technologies, such as wind energy and electric vehicles, and may even give rise to new components for quantum computers.
“The list just goes on and on,” says Stephen Boyd, a synthetic chemist and independent consultant. “They’re everywhere.”
Rare earths’ superpowers come from their electrons
The rare earths are the lanthanides — lutetium and all 14 elements between lanthanum and ytterbium across one row of the periodic table — plus scandium and yttrium, which tend to occur in the same ore deposits and have similar chemical properties to the lanthanides. These gray to silvery metals are often malleable with high melting and boiling points.
Their secret powers lie in their electrons. All atoms have a nucleus surrounded by electrons, which inhabit zones called orbitals. Electrons in the orbitals farthest from the nucleus are the valence electrons, which participate in chemical reactions and form bonds with other atoms.
Most lanthanides possess another important set of electrons called the “f-electrons,” which dwell in a Goldilocks zone located near the valence electrons but slightly closer to the nucleus. “It’s these f-electrons that are responsible for both the magnetic and luminescent properties of the rare earth elements,” says Ana de Bettencourt-Dias, an inorganic chemist at the University of Nevada, RenoWe rely on rare earths to color our smartphone screens, fluoresce to signal authenticity in euro banknotes and relay signals through fiber-optic cables across the seafloor. They are also essential for building some of the world’s strongest and most reliable magnets. They generate sound waves in your headphones, boost digital information through space and shift the trajectories of heat-seeking missiles. Rare earths are also driving the growth of green technologies, such as wind energy and electric vehicles, and may even give rise to new components for quantum computers.
“The list just goes on and on,” says Stephen Boyd, a synthetic chemist and independent consultant. “They’re everywhere.”
Rare earths’ superpowers come from their electrons
The rare earths are the lanthanides — lutetium and all 14 elements between lanthanum and ytterbium across one row of the periodic table — plus scandium and yttrium, which tend to occur in the same ore deposits and have similar chemical properties to the lanthanides. These gray to silvery metals are often malleable with high melting and boiling points.
Their secret powers lie in their electrons. All atoms have a nucleus surrounded by electrons, which inhabit zones called orbitals. Electrons in the orbitals farthest from the nucleus are the valence electrons, which participate in chemical reactions and form bonds with other atoms.
Most lanthanides possess another important set of electrons called the “f-electrons,” which dwell in a Goldilocks zone located near the valence electrons but slightly closer to the nucleus. “It’s these f-electrons that are responsible for both the magnetic and luminescent properties of the rare earth elements,” says Ana de Bettencourt-Dias, an inorganic chemist at the University of Nevada, Reno
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