Time for some science. Federica Fragapane created a “Periodic Table of Elements in Danger” for BBC Science and it’s very interesting. We take for granted the elements on and around our planet but some of them are close to depletion.
The piece is a visual exploration of the periodic table and the under threat elements. For each element the following data have been visualized: total abundance on Earth, scarcity, price per kg, state at room temperature and part of the smartphone the element is used in.
The reason for this periodic table was to demonstrate how substances are used in smartphones by the likes of Huawei and what kind of strain is put on their quantity.
Here are some key takeaways from the table:
Some of the elements in “serious threat in the next 100 years”
- Zinc
- Gallium
- Arsenic
- Germanium
Elements with “limited availability”
- Magnesium
- Manganese
- Phosphorus
- Strontium
Elements with a high price per kg (lines on each element)
- Rhodium
- Gold
- Iridium
- Osmium
- Thallium
Elements used the most for different smartphone components
- Nickel
- Carbon
- Oxygen
- Praseodymium
- Gadolinium
- Terbium
- Dysprosium
