The Science Quiz | Critical minerals

Questions:

1. This element is included in the US’s list of critical minerals. It is prized for use in the control rods of nuclear reactors and for use in compounds that change their shape when magnetised (i.e. magnetostrictives), especially Terfenol-D. Name it.

2. _________ __________ come in two types and are useful to convert the more noxious gases emitted by internal combustion engines to less harmful compounds. Their function usually involves platinum, palladium, and/or rhodium. Fill in the blanks.

3. Glasses that include an oxide of this element seem blue under fluorescent light and pink under incandescent light. Glasses doped with the element make for lasers that emit infrared light. Some of its alloys are among the most powerful permanent magnets known. Name it.

4. In 1879, a Russian mine official named Vassili Samarsky-Bykhovets became the first person to have an element named after them. Among the element’s various applications is in a drug called Quadramet, which treats the pain due to cancer in bones. Name the element.

5. When preparing the iron-carbon alloy known as steel, the addition of different quantities of other elements can confer additional virtues to the final material. For example, adding at least 8% by content of ______, a critical mineral, renders the steel resistant to corrosion. Fill in the blank.

Visual:

Name this scientist. In 2009, he and Andrew Smith found the first new inorganic blue pigment in two centuries, by mixing three critical minerals.

Answers:

1. Dysprosium

2. Catalytic converters

3. Neodymium

4. Samarium

5. Nickel

Visual: Mas Subramanian