Earth is Running Out of Elements: Why?

When it comes to certain elements, Earth doesn t have an unlimited supply. Phones, TVs, solar panels, and electric car batteries are all made of some rare and unusual elements, and as our modern world creates more and more of these technologies, we re running low. Will things go from "rare" to "nonexistent" and what will we do then? Join Michael Aranda for a new episode of SciShow! SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It s called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Eric Jensen, Matt Curls, Sam Buck, Christopher R Boucher, Avi Yashchin, Adam Brainard, Greg, Alex Hackman, Sam Lutfi, D.A. Noe, Piya Shedden, Scott Satovsky Jr, Charles Southerland, Patrick D. Ashmore, charles george, Kevin Bealer, Chris Peters ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow ---------- Sources: http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/13/aluminium http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/27/cobalt http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/33/arsenic http://www.rsc.org/periodic-table/element/49/indium https://www.oulu.fi/energy/node/46134 https://prd-wret.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/atoms/files/mcs-2019-indiu.pdf https://www.bgs.ac.uk/mineralsUK/statistics/riskList.html https://gizmodo.com/most-commercial-graphene-is-just-expensive-pencil-lead-1829625572 https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2002/fs087-02/fs087-02.pdf https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/whatischemistry/landmarks/earthelements.html https://www.offgridweb.com/preparation/understanding-ferrocerium-what-it-is-how-it-works/ https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2014/3078/pdf/fs2014-3078.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13563-018-0160-0 https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/monazite https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2002/fs087-02/fs087-02.pdf https://io9.gizmodo.com/how-chinas-rare-earth-weapon-went-from-boom-to-bust-1653638596 https://mineralseducationcoalition.org/minerals-database/arsenic/ https://www.pnas.org/content/112/14/4257.full#ref-5 https://www.cobaltinstitute.org/lithium-ion-batteries.html https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cssc.201802556 https://prd-wret.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/atoms/files/mcs-2019-galli.pdf https://phys.org/news/2019-05-china-threat-deprive-rare-earths.html https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2011.0563 https://www.resourcepanel.org/file/381/download?token=he_rldvr https://prd-wret.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/assets/palladium/production/s3fs-public/atoms/files/mcs-2019-arsen.pdf https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S089268750900106X https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cssc.201802556 https://www.copper.org/publications/newsletters/innovations/2004/05/producing_copper_natures_way_bioleaching.html https://www.jchps.com/specialissues/Special%20issue3/33%20jchps%20si3%20addn%20kavitha%20147-149.pdf ------ Images: https://www.videoblocks.com/video/repairing-and-changing-of-a-screen-on-a-iphone-mobile-phone-rlfmaf56vjw7npysh https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/periodic-table-of-elements-gm1142193660-306312056 https://www.videoblocks.com/video/flying-over-rows-of-solar-panels-r193mwuhxjnwc60uj https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/open-pit-zink-mine-gm153767196-14910788 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antimony_massive.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gold_bearing_vein_Toi_Kinzan.jpg https://www.videoblocks.com/video/finger-igniting-lighter-slow-motion-hsh5hav https://tinyurl.com/yxbp6bgg https://tinyurl.com/y69tezva https://tinyurl.com/y68emvem https://tinyurl.com/yyotp5bm https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Monazite-(Ce)-164025.jpg https://tinyurl.com/y6jfwbt5 https://tinyurl.com/y3mt6l3y https://tinyurl.com/y5jr55h7 https://tinyurl.com/yy2ohqrk https://tinyurl.com/y6fska42 https://tinyurl.com/y4ezho9v https://tinyurl.com/y67wlug5 https://tinyurl.com/yyoeo4d5 https://tinyurl.com/y7j6uo6n https://tinyurl.com/yxmk9gpp