RARE METALS USED IN iPHONES

THE NEW NECESSITIES [for iPhones]

in Boston College Magazine, Spring 2016, pages 44-46

David S. Abraham, BC 1996

There is “magic” in the glass of an iPhone, due to rare metals. Here are some rare metals used in an iPhone:

Iridium              Malleable, the invisible link, a transparent conductor between your finger and the telephone

Europium & Terbium These rare metals provide the red and green hues.

Tantalum           Regulates the power in the phone.

Lithium             Stores power that makes the phone mobile.

Cerium              Used to buff the glass smooth to the molecular level.

Other metals he discusses although he doesn't specify their function in an iPhone:

Niobium          Ductile

Cadmium        Toxic

Thorium          Radioactive

Cobalt             Magnetic

Gallium           May melt in your hand.

Antimony        Helps resist fire.

Dysprosium & Neodymium

Contained in the rare earth permanent magnet. They help computer drives to retain information. (They also help to propel hybrid vehicles.)

Gallium & Indium

These rare metals are found in LED lights, along with rare earth elements. Cf. Edison's bulb which had a simple carbon filament.

Tellurium Most “rare metals” are called rare because they're mined in small quantities compared with, for example, copper. But Tellurium is geographically rare. It is used in metal alloys.

Some “nuggets” I found in the article:

• Decades ago scientists dismissed these elements as impurities.

• In the 1980s Steve Jobs bought the home of mining magnate Daniel Jackling.

• Intel used 16 elements in computer chips in 1990. Almost 60 elements are being used in computer chips by 2016.

• Trade in rare metals takes place in backrooms rather than on open commodity exchanges, obscuring the size of the markets and the market price.

• The world is fast becoming as dependent on rare metals as it is on oil.

David S. Abraham is the author of The Elements of Power: Gadgets, Guns, and the Struggle for a Sustainable Future in the Rare Metal Age, Yale University Press, 2015.

String-Can Telephones: Lesson Plan

LESSON PLAN

STRING-CAN TELEPHONES

LEAD IN with SCIENCE OF SOUND

1. Have you noticed that when you talk and your voice fades, you take a breath? Why?

2. The sound of your voice starts with air passing over your vocal cord, AKA voice box. Your voice box will move (or vibrate) as you speak. Place your fingers over your vocal cords; your fingers might tickle as you speak. (Demonstrate; they try it.)
3. Think about what you do to direct your voice:
   To whisper, cup your hands around your mouth and speak softly into someone's ear.
   To shout, put your hands to each side of your mouth and shout to everyone.
4. Today we'll learn how to make our voice travel over a distance -– without shouting!

STRING-CAN TELEPHONES

1. This is what “telephone” means: (tele – = distant - phone = sound)
2. This is what happens when talking and listening face-to-face:
   As we've already seen, our vocal cords move -– they vibrate. And the sound wave travels in the air, which is called a medium. Your friend's eardrums vibrate – and he hears you!

3. This is what you can do when talking and listening over a distance: To do this without shouting -– make a string-can telephone!   (show one).
   a. Speak into the can. The string and can vibrate. The vibration travels in sound waves.
   b. The sound wave's vibration travels along the string to the 2^nd can, and then the other person hears. (Have 2 kids demonstrate.)                                                         c. c. You need to keep the string taut, as the sound travels best this way. Do not let the string sag or bend, either.

4. Show them how to make one. (Pass out supplies.)  Every 2 children make one set.
5. Try them out.
   WRAP-UP

1. Review what happens.
   air passes over vocal cord ----- vocal cord vibrates ----- sound wave travels through air to string at bottom of can ---- can and string vibrate ---- sound wave's vibration travels along the string to the 2^nd can ---- be sure to keep that string taut ---- the other person's eardrum vibrates and he hears you
2. Investigate further! use different kinds of cups and cans –--- use different kinds of strings ---- use different lengths of strings ---- chart the results * (see p. 2). What works best?
3. Pass out the leaflet; ask them to take it home.

Page 2

EVALUATION

Demonstrate it and explain to someone else how it works!

Notes on Vocabulary:

Underlined words: Put up signs you make or write them on the board.

Vocabulary: air – vocal cord / voice box – telephone – vibrate – medium – taut

Introduce whatever vocabulary seems appropriate for the group. Both “vocal cord / cords” and “voice box” are introduced and are used interchangeably. The medical term is:   l a r y n x.

Tips:

Cans are referred to in this lesson plan, but cups can be used instead.

The leaflet “String-Can Telephones and How They Work” can be used to show this visually.

Notes on the String-Can Telephones:

When you have some assistance in making the telephones, this lesson can be done in about 45 minutes. Making the holes in the cans/cups ahead of time will help to speed this up.

It's good if you have two sets of phones for two children to share (one for the ear, one for the mouth, so they don't need to keep switching one phone from ear to mouth). However, if time is limited, one set will do.

Plastic cups are easier to make holes in, so you might want to start with them. Later on, use different kinds of cans and cups and compare them.

You can introduce a variable in the type of string and/or can with the groups within the class. Each group would be assigned one kind of string / can:

Each group could use a fishing line / regular string / or dental floss

plus tin can / styrofoam cup / or plastic cup.

The different groups can swap and compare results using different kinds of string and cup. 

* COMPARING COMPONENTS USED IN STRING-CAN TELEPHONES

Cup or Can:	Different Types	of Strings:	RESULTS:
	GROUP 1 FISHING LINE	GROUP 2 YARN
Soup can, e.g.	X		Easy to hear
Styrofoam cup, e.g.		X	Hard to hear
Soup can, e.g.		X	??

Ask:  Why do you think you got the results that you did?

Kathy Dullea Hogan

Gateway to Science: Sports and Games

http://sportscience.blogspot.com

NOTE:  here is a good link to a page on WikiHow on string-can telephones:

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Play-Telephone

Leaflet: Basketball Backspin

DID YOU KNOW THAT

YOU CAN LEARN PHYSICS

WHILE PLAYING BASKETBALL?

This is about the science involved in

IMPARTING BACKSPIN!

---------

It looks at the following question:

“I don't want the basketball to bounce off the rim.

How do I get the ball to stay there and drop into the basket?”

-------

                                     http://sportscience-kathy.blogspot.com

GATEWAY TO SCIENCE:

SPORTS AND GAMES 

INSIDE LEFT

Listen to what a famous Boston Celtics coach said about this:

Fingertips help to impart backspin, which makes the shot softer. 

A ball that strikes the rim and then stops has good backspin.

Red Auerbach

_____________

-- A shot from the fingertips is launched with backspin! --

What happens without backspin?

When you use the flat of your hand to throw the ball and the ball hits the rim, 

there will be some friction.

This collision robs the ball of some of its energy. It will slow it down.

However, the ball still has enough energy to keep it moving – 

and it can bounce right off the rim of the basket!

INSIDE CENTER

WHAT'S THE SCIENCE BEHIND BACKSPIN?

▪ In addition to traveling through the air, the ball is spinning, 

or rotating on its axis.

▪ With spin, the bottom of the ball moves faster.

▪ When the bottom of the ball hits the rim fast, this collision will cause 

enough friction so that the ball loses more energy.

▪ This slows the ball down, keeps it where you want it – 

so that gravity can finish the job!

INSIDE RIGHT

WHAT WORDS WILL HELP ME TO UNDERSTAND THE SCIENCE SO THAT I CAN PLAY BETTER BASKETBALL?

∫∫∫

ENERGY...Energy causes things to happen. 

The source can be solar, motion, biomechanical, electrical, to name a few.

AXIS OF ROTATION...Just as Earth spins around on its axis of rotation, 

a basketball with backspin also spins on its axis of rotation.

COLLISION...Two surfaces come in contact with each other.

FRICTION...When two surfaces meet, friction is produced. 

Friction slows things down.

_______________________________________________________

OUTSIDE LEFT

Sports and games are the gateway to science,

and YOU hold the key!

OUTSIDE CENTER (back of the leaflet)

The science of basketball... is just one of endless ways to gain an understanding of physics and geometry.     I hope this leaflet introduces you to seeing things you never saw before – or wondered about but just didn't know where to start. Physics and geometry come into play in every activity and event going on around us. Knowing how things work can add to your performance and to your fun. So give it a try. How? Start with the information here You may not understand everything in it right away, but for now, use what you do understand Do an online search of your own See what books or videos your library has Share them with friends, your class, your team, your scout troop Thank you! Kathy Hogan Very helpful in preparing this: Galileo Got Game: 5 Things You Didn't Know About the Physics of Basketball by Aatish Bhatia in Science April 24, 2014                 Found in (and for much more): www.wired.com

The OUTSIDE RIGHT is found at the top (the cover)

STRING-CAN TELEPHONES ................. AT SAINT AGATHA SCHOOL, MILTON

Monday, May 2, 2016

Today I participated in teaching some of the science of sound to three 2nd grade classes at my alma mater Saint Agatha School, East Milton.  I went to this school beginning in 1950 when I entered the 2nd grade at the old convent school up on Father Carney Drive.  The new school opened in 1951 and I entered the 3rd grade there.  We had 45 boys and girls in each classroom, where now the size of the classes I visited appeared to be between 15-20.  What a difference!

Manuel Barroso, who organized Science Week there four years ago, recruited me to do this.  He and Eric Braun both work out of the Quincy Center for Innovation and were my partners in running the South Shore Science Festival, along with Parna Sarkar-Basu of Westwood, last Saturday, April 23.  It's the second one we've done and is part of the Cambridge Science Festival.

Scott Swenson, also of Science Week, did the opening presentation to each class on engineering, engineered products used in everyday life, and different engineering careers.  One of the careers mentioned was communications engineers, and I told the students that they were going to be communications engineers because we were making string-can telephones.  The words in bold below are the words I put on the board.

Telephone =   tele-  (distant)      -phone  (sound)  from the Greek.

Parent volunteers JoJo Foley and Kathleen Foley and Scott all helped with the logistics of poking the holes in the bottoms of the plastic cups, cutting the strings, and helping the kids insert and attach them to produce a working phone--no batteries or recharging needed!

THE SCIENCE INVOLVED:

       First, put your fingers on your throat on each side of your vocal cords and feel them vibrate when you speak, cough, hum, whatever sound you want to make. 

       The vibration then passes through the medium of air as a sound wave.

       When it reaches the string at the bottom of the cup, the vibration passes along the string -- as long as you keep the string taut  (tight, no curves or bends) -- and then it enters cup 2.

       Inside cup 2, the sound wave passes through the air till it reaches your eardrum, which also vibrates.  Then the special bones inside your ear send a message to your brain, and you hear!

I showed the storybook where I first got the idea to play with string-can (or cup) telephones.  It was The Berenstain Bears:  No Girls Allowed.  You can find science in so many stories if you know how to look for it.  We finished up by reviewing again the science of sound involved with string-can telephones.  

The kids had many questions for me, not only about my days as a student there but also about the project at hand this morning.  I had a wonderful time -- my first time back in the classroom in over 10 years, way too long.  Scott's wife Elizabeth Hill was there as the photographer, and I look forward to seeing the pictures and will try to add some here.  The teachers whose classes I visited were:  2A Mrs. Leary,    2B Miss Donovan,    and  2C Ms Marshall.  I had a chance to meet Mr. Egan, the principal, who visited one of the classes.  Ms. Marcelle Poteau, the school secretary, was very helpful when I arrived, and when I mentioned that I had graduated from the school, she produced a notepad and asked me for my contact information, as they're trying to compile a list of graduates.

Finally, I handed each child a leaflet* that I prepared illustrating two characters, one speaking into one of these phones, the other listening.  Each child also got my business card, so I hope they will find this report about this morning's activity.  Thanks to each of you, I had a great time!

* The leaflet gave me a chance to include something else I'm passionate about:                        Kilroy Was Here

The character on the left is a soldier, and into the phone he says "Kilroy was here." ...... The character on the receiving end on the right is the little guy with the long nose looking over a fence -- and he says,  "Who?"  

(If I ever learn how to scan, I'll put it in here.)

The Rainbow Fish / art activity sheet

STORY AND ART ACTIVITY AT SOUTH SHORE SCIENCE FESTIVAL
Science Theme:   white light refracting into colors

The children will have a chance to examine various objects that refract light into colors before reading the story to them (beads, ribbon, glittery nail polish, blowing bubbles, e.g..

The Rainbow Fish is about a beautiful fish with shiny scales that refract into the colors of the rainbow.  He is admired by the other fish (and he loves to be admired).  When the little blue fish asks him for one of his scales, he refuses.  All the fish begin to avoid him.  Finally he seeks advice and is told that he should try giving his scales to the other fish, and he will learn something new.  When he gives away a scale, he has a "peculiar" feeling, which he discovers he likes.  It makes him happy.

(NOTE   This activity sheet doesn't copy too well to this blog:

W H I T E  L I G H T  and C O L O U R S are supposed to be written in letter outlines.  This way, the letters in W H I T E  L I G H T are left white, while the letters in C O L O U R S are to be colored in with the color written below them.  By the way, I used the British spelling for the 7 colors.)

front of page

W H I T E    L I G H T    refracting to 

             C    O    L    O    U    R    S

                                 red                         yellow                         blue                         violet

                                                orange                      green.                       indigo

Draw a FISH – or a RAINBOW – or both!

This activity  suggested  to be used with The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister,  North-South Books, NY, 1992.

_______________________________________________

back of page

Did you know?

White light can be seen refracting into different colors:

• blowing bubbles
• in soapsuds when washing hands or the dishes
• in jewels
• in scratches on the windshield on a sunny day
• Where else?

Did you know?

It was Sir Isaac Newton who discovered this. He noticed the sunlight coming through a tiny hole in the curtain and passing through a prism – breaking into different colors.

My theory is that this amazing physics discovery was all because of a moth!

Kathy Dullea Hogan

Gateway to Science: Sports and Games

http://sportscience-kathy.blogspot.com

SOUTH SHORE SCIENCE FESTIVAL (W.A.V.E.S.)

This is the article that was published in the Patriot Ledger on Monday, April 25.  I can't get it to show up here, but you can look up this link.  It includes some video footage, too.

http://www.patriotledger.com/article/20160423/NEWS/160427847

And this is what I wrote before the Science Festival:


This is one of the many great offerings of the Cambridge Science Festival.

Come for

Wicked Awesome Ventures into Exciting Science (W.A.V.E.S.) 

with so many things to choose from:

Gateway to Science: Sports and Games will bring back hula hooping (torque, angular momentum, centripetal force) and string-can telephones (science of sound) and assorted games.     In addition, we will be learning about how light refracts into colors with a story -- The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister -- followed by an art activity.

Learn about refraction, too, as it applies to determining what eyeglasses you need -- with optometrist Bob Crawford, O.D.

Refraction can be seen in gemstones, too.  Jeweler Jeff Bertman will bring a jeweler's equipment for examining these special stones.

The biotechnology department from Quincy College will be back again, bringing lab equipment and DNA games, etc.

Lob the Bottle, a sports-oriented recycling game, will be brought here again by Dick Leonard. 

Using Legos, recreate the manufacturing process with Manuel Barroso.

Computer-based activities include learning to write a story and incorporate graphics, and learning about Scratch programming from 30Hands Learning.

Learn about Quincy's early industrial history with Al Bina of the Quincy Quarry Museum.  The Inclined Plane -- actually a simple machine -- was part of the Granite Railway.

A model of the Souther Tide Mill will demonstrate how a tide mill works, built by Amy Boyce of Friends of Souther Tide Mill.

Mister R.E. Cycle , the recycling robot from Quincy's Waste and Recycling department, will be here with his human, John Sullivan.

Improvisation will be back this year with Mayah Braun.

Nature Studies was a big hit and will return with Suzanne Reynard, The Amateur Naturalist.

THIS LIST IS NOT COMPLETE AND WILL BE REVISED AS OTHER OFFERINGS ARE FIRMED UP.

For more information, go to http://southshorescience.org where you can see pictures and the schedule from last year and sign up OR www.cambridgesciencefestival.org. 

WHERE IS THE SOUTH SHORE SCIENCE FESTIVAL?

We're at 180 Old Colony Avenue, Quincy, which is a ten-minute walk from the Wollaston T on the Red Line, with parking available as well.

COLLISION! What's That?

COLLISION

Elastic v. Inelastic

Two things collide with each other!

On a scale of 1 to 10, how elastic or inelastic is the collision?

1            2            3              4            5             6              7              8             9            10

ELASTIC                                                                                                INELASTIC

(has a lot of "give")                                                                            (not enough "give")

 You can find out just what this means when you have an

EGG TOSS -- OR WATER BALLOON TOSS

Use an easily breakable item – that's why we use an egg or a water balloon.

In a contest like this, after each round, you take a giant step back, so there is more and more distance involved. The distance adds to the amount of force each time you throw.

How elastic or inelastic a collision?                         It depends on:

USE AN EGG or WATER BALLOON                     WHERE IT LANDS AND HOW IT LANDS

Using the above scale:

                      1                                             on sand or grass or a pillow

                      3                                             in your hands, and keep the arms moving

                      5                                            in your hands, stop all of a sudden

                      7                                             right on you!

                     10                                             on hard ground

                                                                                            

You can find out, too, with pitching and catching:

PITCHER / PITCHING MACHINE

How elastic or inelastic a collision?                           It depends on:

USING DIFFERENT TYPES OF BALLS                HOW YOU PROTECT YOURSELF

cloth ball                                       1                               bare hands

rubber ball                                     3                               bare hands

softball                                          5                               catchers mitt

baseball                                         7                               catchers mitt

ball used in shotput                       10                             2 catchers mitts ??!

SUMMARY: The force is d-i-f-f-u-s-e-d, meaning you s-p-r-e-a-d  o-u-t the force.

This  way  there  is  a  more  elastic  collision,  resulting  in  less  damage.

So, wearing a helmet helps protect you when doing activities such as bicycling or skateboarding. Why? If you fall and hit your head, 
it spreads the force, first, throughout the lining --- protecting YOU. 

How? Less force to your head!