A group of seventeen metallic elements contained in rare earth minerals. Also called "rare earth metals," they are essential in tech, energy and transportation. Mined from the earth's crust, they are turned into the elements used in chips, motors, wind turbines, LED lights, as well as used in military weapons and fighter jets.
The heavy rare earth elements such as neodymium and praseodymium, which are used to make magnets, have a higher atomic weight and are rarer. China has almost 70% of the world's rare earth production, while the U.S. has one rare earth mineral mine in Mountain Pass, California, which accounts for about 12%. Brazil, India, Australia, Russia, Vietnam, Ukraine, Greenland, Myanmar, Tanzania and South Africa also have rare earth mineral mines.
Following are the 17 rare earth elements (
in bold) with a few common metals interspersed to show their atomic weight relationships:
Atomic # Symbol Name
13 Al aluminum
21 Sc scandium
24 Cr chromium
29 Cu copper
39 Y yttrium
47 Ag silver
Lanthanides
57 La lanthanum
58 Ce cerium
59 Pr praseodymium
60 Nd neodymium
61 Pm promethium
62 Sm samarium
63 Eu europium
64 Gd gadolinium
65 Tb terbium
66 Dy dysprosium
67 Ho holmium
68 Er erbium
69 Tm thulium
70 Yb ytterbium
71 Lu luteium
78 Pt platinum
79 Au gold
92 U uranium