CNN News: 稀土元素

10 Second Trivia. On the Periodic Table, 17 elements are classified as what? Halogens, Noble gases, lanthanides or rare earth elements.

10秒快速問答。在元素周期表上，有17個元素被劃分為什么?鹵素、稀有氣體、鑭系元素或稀土元素。

Seventeen of the chemical elements on the table are rare earth metals which are widely used in electronics.

17種化學(xué)元素是稀土金屬，廣泛用于電子產(chǎn)品。

Fun fact about rare earth elements. They’re not that rare but maybe somewhat available earth elements didn’t have the same ring. Scandium, which is one of them, is used in many TVs. Lanthanum is in camera lens. Your watch may have artificial promethium. Many rare earth elements are produced or processed in China and that could factor into an ongoing trade dispute between the United States and China if higher tariffs or taxes effect the costs of rare earth metals. Everything from magnets to car engines could get more expensive.

關(guān)于稀土元素的趣事。其實它們并不是那么稀有，但可能地球上的某些元素并沒有相同的環(huán)。鈧就是其中之一，被用于許多電視。鑭在照相機鏡頭中。你的手表可能含有人造钷。許多稀土元素都是在中國生產(chǎn)或加工的，如果更高的關(guān)稅或稅收影響到稀土金屬的成本，這可能會導(dǎo)致美國和中國之間持續(xù)不斷的貿(mào)易爭端。從磁鐵到汽車發(fā)動機，一切都可能變得更加昂貴。

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are everywhere. You’ll find them in your phone, your car, even in wind turbines. Without rare earth elements, a lot of the technology we have today wouldn’t exist in its current form. They’re mined in places like this and have been milled into a concentrate before being processed into the pure metal. The global appetite for rare earth elements is surging. There’s actually about 50 percent rare earths contained in this concentrate, but what are they? Well contrary to the name, they’re not actually that rare.

它們無處不在。會在你的手機里，你的汽車里，甚至在風(fēng)力渦輪機里。如果沒有稀土元素，我們今天擁有的許多技術(shù)就不會以現(xiàn)在的形式存在。它們是在這樣的地方開采的，在加工成純金屬之前被磨成精礦。全球?qū)ο⊥猎氐男枨笳陲j升。實際上，這種濃縮物中含有大約50%的稀土，但它們是什么呢?與這個名字相反，它們其實并不罕見。

Rare earth elements are a collection of 17 metals that are found here on the Periodic

稀土元素是17種金屬的集合，它們在這里被發(fā)現(xiàn)具有周期性

Table with names that are almost impossible to pronounce. And while they’re abundant, they’re not often found in quantities that make extraction economically viable. They’re known for having similar properties and are mostly used in magnets, catalysts or in hybrid car batteries. Even some military equipment requires rare earth elements.

化學(xué)周期表中的名稱很難讀。雖然它們儲量豐富，但數(shù)量并不足以使開采在經(jīng)濟上可行。它們以具有相似的性能而聞名，主要用于磁鐵、催化劑或混合動力汽車電池。甚至一些軍事裝備也需要稀土元素。

China is by far the biggest producer. It has a third of the world’s deposits and it counts for more than 90 percent of global production and supply.

到目前為止，中國是最大的生產(chǎn)國。它擁有世界三分之一的儲量，占全球生產(chǎn)和供應(yīng)的90%以上。