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Owing to their unique magnetic, phosphorescent, and catalytic properties, rare earths are the elements that make possible teverything from the miniaturization of electronics, to the enabling of green energy and medical technologies, to supporting essential telecommunications and defense systems. An iPhone uses eight rare earths for everything from its colored screen, to its speakers, to the miniaturization of the phone?s circuitry. On the periodic table rare earth elements comprise a set of seventeen chemical elements (the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium). There would be no Pokémon Go without rare earths. Rare Earth Frontiers is a work of human geography. Klinger looks historically and geographically at the ways rare earth elements in three discrete but representative and contested sites are given meaning.

Excerpt from Observations on the Rare Earths I. Introduction. - One object of the present work was to study some separation methods which might be suitable for the isolation of the various individual rare earths, more particularly those of the yttrium group. This was undertaken preliminary to a later object which was to prepare dysprosium material of sufficient purity for atomic weight work, and to determine the atomic weight of that element. Oxides of the rare earths obtained from a previous investigation furnished most of the material for this work. These were originally obtained from the following mineral sources: monazite, gadolinite, xenotime, euxenite, and fergusonite. From the gadolinite and xenotime material part of the yttrium had been previously removed in the investigation above referred to. The oxides were in the main those of the yttrium earths, though some portions contained appreciable quantities of the cerium earths. II. Separation of Cerium and Yttrium Groups. - For the separation of the earths the scheme suggested by James was used as a working basis. However, several deviations were made from this scheme. The method used for the separation of the yttrium earths from the cerium earths depends upon the fact that the cerium earths are but slightly soluble in a saturated solution of sodium or potassium sulfate, while, in the presence of the cerium earths, the yttrium earths are quite soluble in these solutions. This separation, which is approximate, and which serves to divide roughly the rare earths into the two groups, was carried out as follows: The oxides were dissolved in strong nitric or hydrochloric acid, a large excess of acid being avoided. The solutions were diluted with water so that there was a volume of about one liter for each hundred grams of dissolved oxide. Solid sodium or potassium sulfate was added and the solutions stirred from time to time until they were saturated with the alkali sulfate or until the absorption spectra showed the removal of most of the cerium earths from solution. Ordinarily this process required three or four days. The solutions were kept cool in order to reduce to a minimum the amount of alkali sulfate required. One portion treated with sodium sulfate consisted of the chlorides from 3760 g. of oxides, mainly cerium group, obtained from oxalates furnished by the Welsbach Company. The solution was filtered, diluted and precipitated in the cold with oxalic acid. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.