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The Periodic Table of Tech
itwbennett writes "From calcium in cameras and germanium in CPUs to selenium in solar cells. Here's a look at how every single element in the periodic table is used in common tech products. For example: Scandium is used in the bulbs in metal halide lamps, which produce a white light source with a high color rendering index that resembles natural sunlight. These lights are often appropriate for the taping of television shows. ... Yttrium helps CRT televisions produce a red color. When used in a compound, it collects energy and passes it to the phosphor. ... Niobium: Lithium niobate is used in mobile phone production, incorporated into surface acoustic wave filters that convert acoustic waves into electrical signals and make smartphone touchscreens work. SAW filters also provide cell signal enhancement, and are used to produce the Apple iPad 2."
It would have been so much funnier if they put the Hindenburg on the H tile instead of that car.
"Dad, Mom says we used to have television with something in it called a SEE-ARR-TEE. What was one of those?"
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Indium tin oxide is (was?) one of the primary clear conductive coatings used on LCD screens.
To all you virgins: Thanks for nothing.
I was wondering which products use astatine, but alas, the Slashdot summary is a lie. They mention it, but only to say it's not used for anything.
Probably most of us don't have one in the garage, but argon is very important in MIG / TIG welders, and how much other stuff is made with one of these?
While interesting, the TFA is missing more content than it contains. Just a few quick oversights that I thought of while skimming the list. Platinium is widely used in sparkplugs. Uranium was used in depression glass as well as pottery and it is the active ingredient in armor piercing DU ammunition. Rhodium is used in electronics where arcing is undesirable.
I wonder how long before the electric and hybrid cars become a target of theft for the precious metal and rare earth content. Iron doesn't show up at all. Scandium is used to make high strength aluminum alloys. Gallium-Arsenide has a very low internal resistance which made it suitable for high frequency and photo sensitive circuits for years.
INTRODUCTION:
Although I usually ignore trolls, I have decided that this particular trolling deserves a very long rant, to the point of it being an essay. Since this is slashdot, I shalll keep it brief, simple and minimal, mentioning only the unlfoccinaucinihilipilificatable.
CHAPTER 1: ANONYMOUS COWARD'S POOR UNDERSTANDING OF PHYSICS
Section 1: on Cathode Ray Tubes
Instead of shooting electron beams at a periodic table to see what happens
The effect of firing cathode rays at solid materials is quite easy to predict, although it probably has never been done before. Some electrons would diffract through the paper, while others would collide with the molecules therein, possibly altering the composition thereof slightly.
Section 2: on the Discovery of the Elements of the Periodic Table
Those same starving children probably mined the periodic table for you so you could play with it in your lab
No child is old enough to have mined an undiscovered element, since hafnium is the last element to have been discovered 'in the wild', which was in 1911. Also, periodic tables are printed, not mined.
CHAPTER 2: SCIENTIFIC DISREGARD OF THE ANONYMOUS COWARD
Obviously, the Anonymous Coward, hereafter referred to as 'AC', holds science in low regard, as he so rudely denigrates the peridic table by saying
Who cares about a fucking periodic table
This monument of scientific knowledge, which has aided many scientists, scholars and technologists most certainly deserves better.
CHAPTER 3: AC'S ABUSE OF PUNCTUATION
The sentence
Who cares about a fucking periodic table.
should end in a question mark, and I will not even begin to address the grammatical horror of this cluster of words:
what happens these scientists should be
CHAPTER 4: AC'S SEXUAL OBSESSION
The word 'fuck' appears quite frequently in AC's words, whence I have deduced yon poster is obsessed with the coital act. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this, but please do remember that this is not the subject of this discussion.
CHAPTER 5: AC'S USE OF CONTROVERSIAL TERMS
The concepts of a first and third world are at best disputable as
Why am I even spending time on this?
AccountKiller
I lost respect for this fluff piece after reading this:
Though not directly related to any tech product because of its toxicity, arsenic is commonly used in bronzing and pyrotechnics.
Gallium arsenide has been used for years in cutting edge semiconductor applications. I've heard it referred to as "the semiconductor of the future" in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, due to its high performance which comes at high cost. Essentially, what this implies is that technologies are often prototyped on GaAs but reworked to use silicon semiconductors instead before mass manufacturing.
Anyway, if they missed GaAs while doing a survey of "tech applications of elements", what else did they miss?
The blue laser diodes are gallium nitride. I would hope they'd know the difference, as it's kind of important to put sodium chloride instead of sodium chlorate on your baked potato.
Ooh, moderator points! Five more idjits go to Minus One Hell!
Delendae sunt RIAA, MPAA et Windoze