[HN Gopher] What the hell are rare earth elements?
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       What the hell are rare earth elements?
        
       Author : Anon84
       Score  : 21 points
       Date   : 2025-05-11 12:17 UTC (10 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (media.hubspot.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (media.hubspot.com)
        
       | hkon wrote:
       | Am I the only one who wanted to see a list of names?
       | 
       | Anyway: cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium,
       | europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium,
       | thulium, ytterbium, lutetium, lanthanum
        
         | gilleain wrote:
         | In table form : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare-
         | earth_element
        
         | whycome wrote:
         | Yeah this was more an overview of the industry and how the USA
         | and China diverged on control and production. A really good
         | article. But yeah, a gap of actually listing the elements and a
         | single image depiction doesn't include full names (just
         | periodic table abbreviations).
         | 
         | From ChatGPT:
         | 
         | Light Rare Earth Elements (LREEs)                 1. Lanthanum
         | (La): camera lenses, hybrid vehicle batteries       2. Cerium
         | (Ce): glass polishing, catalytic converters       3.
         | Praseodymium (Pr): magnets, aircraft engines       4. Neodymium
         | (Nd): powerful magnets (hard drives, EV motors)       5.
         | Promethium (Pm): radioactive, used in nuclear batteries
         | 
         | Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs)                 6. Samarium
         | (Sm): magnets, nuclear reactors       7. Europium (Eu):
         | red/blue phosphors in screens       8. Gadolinium (Gd): MRI
         | contrast, neutron capture       9. Terbium (Tb): green
         | phosphors, solid-state devices      10. Dysprosium (Dy): heat-
         | resistant magnets      11. Holmium (Ho): high-strength magnets
         | 12. Erbium (Er): fiber optics, lasers      13. Thulium (Tm):
         | portable X-ray machines      14. Ytterbium (Yb): stainless
         | steel, lasers      15. Lutetium (Lu): cancer treatment, PET
         | scans
         | 
         | Other Rare Earths.
         | 
         | 16. Scandium (Sc): aerospace alloys, sports equipment. 17.
         | Yttrium (Y): superconductors, LEDs, cancer therapy
        
       | thenthenthen wrote:
       | The EU defines 'about' 30 rare earth elements: https://single-
       | market-economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/raw-mater...
       | 
       | Sweden is gamifying local mining through _Mineraljakten_ or
       | Mineral Hunting: https://www.sgu.se/mineraljakten/
       | 
       | Not sure where this is going.
        
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       (page generated 2025-05-11 23:02 UTC)