Land-Raras and Corn Flakes

The now so -media lands are a set of seventeen metal chemical elements that comprise lantanids -from lantnium (atomic number 57) to lutecio (atomic number 71) -, scandio (21) and ittrio (39). The latter was the first to be discovered in 1794 by Finnish Johan Gadolin, and his name was inspired by Ytterby, the Swedish village from which the black mineral came from (Gadolinite or Ytterbite) in which he was identified.

The collective designation of ‘rare lands’ is due to the fact that these metals were originally found in the form of oxides, which were classified in the eighteenth century as ‘lands’, ie, water insoluble substances and resistant to chemical changes by heat action. However, their supposed rarity would not be confirmed: some are relatively abundant in the earth’s crust – in quantities comparable to copper and tin – although in most cases they are not in concentrated and exploitable deposits.

In 1803, the Swedes Jacob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hiscinger and, separately, the German Martin Klaproth identified the Cério, a Lantanid. Following the old tendency to associate metals with stars -gold in the sun, silver with moon, mart, mercury to the homonymous planet, tin to Jupiter, covers Venus and lead to Saturn -Cerio alludes to Ceres, the largest asteroid in the solar system, discovered two years earlier by Sicilian Giuseppe Piazzi. In turn, this dwarf planet located on the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and with a diameter of 940 km, owes his name to Ceres, Roman goddess of agriculture, cereals and fertility, according to the tradition of attributing to the planets of Greco-Roman deities-from Mercury to Saturn, and then uranus and Pluto (this reclassified. As a dwarf planet by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, because it is not enough to clean its orbit of other celestial bodies).
According to Roman mythology, it was Ceres (in the image, in a representation of C. 1717 by Antoine Watteau), daughter of Saturn and Oops, who taught humans how to cultivate the earth, sow, gather cereals and make bread. Venerated deity as patron saint of Sicily – considered the barn of Rome – Ceres stars, along with Proserpina, his daughter, one of the most beautiful myths of antiquity. Desperate with her daughter’s abduction by Pluto, who had taken her to the underworld, the goddess abandoned her duties, leaving the earth sterile. Jupiter then ordered Proserpina’s liberation, but, as it voluntarily ingested six pomegranate berries offered by the raptor, demanding the law in such cases that remain in the underworld (the first case of Stockholm Syndrome?), It was based that the young woman would spend half the year with Pluto, symbolizing the fall and winter, and the other half with ceres, will be spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the spring and the Summer, thus reflecting the cycle of stations and harvests.

The enormous interest in the rare land is due to the uniqueness of their properties-magnetic, luminescent, electrochemicals and thermal-that make them essential for advanced technologies and strategic importance, such as smartphones, electric cars, LEDs, wind turbines, medical imaging and advanced defense systems, among others. For example, the GD₅si₂ge formula compound – which contains gadolinium (GD), a lantanid – may suffer a temperature variation when subjected to a variable magnetic field. Currently, the use of magnetocaloric materials such as this in high efficiency cooling systems is investigated, with the objective of reaching energy consumption up to four times lower than conventional systems.
Some countries and territories have vast rare land resources, especially China, which, holding about 25% of world reserves, accounts for approximately 90% of global supply. Chinese mastery in this market has raised increasing concerns between countries that depend on the importation of these metals, either because they do not have their own reserves, or by choosing not to explore them. Despite determining in California, the important Mountain Pass mine, the US is interested in Granelândia and Mineral Resources in Ukraine (the Barn of Europe), both rich in rare lands. This movement reflects the aggravation of geopolitical tensions around the demand for alternative sources, with the objective of reducing dependence on China.

However, the aggressive methods of rare land extraction and the inappropriate treatment of their waste cause significant environmental impacts, as shown in the Bayan Obo region of China. For this reason, the pressure for the development of more sustainable methods has increased and the search for alternative sources – after all, even rare is the earth.

Chemical