[ExI] not that rare earth (part 2 of at least 2)

[spike at rainier66.com]

From: John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> 
…

 

>…I can't think of any application in which the rare earths don't need to be refined out into separate elements, if there is such an application it must not be a very important one… John K Clark

 

 

If such applications exist, we wouldn’t know.  Those would be held as trade secrets.  An example would be a company that uses tons of material in which a foreign country, an unreliable trade partner held a monopoly.  That company would look for applications of mixtures of rare earth elements, where everything easily separated is gone.  Then the remaining mixture, which is easy to get and doesn’t cost much, might be used in high efficiency magnets.  Since the company uses a lot of those, it would be better for them to hold that information as a trade secret rather than try to protect it with a patent.

 

When it comes to recipes for high efficiency magnets, those are not effectively protected by patents anyway.  It is easy enough to come up with a one-off recipe or add a pinch of this and a smattering of that, then claim it is a different recipe.

 

Recognizing all this, Musk found a way to phase out rare earth elements without losing significant performance in his magnets.

 

Once you start pondering why rare earth elements would make a better magnet, it all makes perfect sense.  Those big metal atoms can ionize either way, for they tend to be ambivalent toward their outermost electrons.  They hold domains in place.  One can theorize that the actinide period would work even better than the lanthanides, but those have a bad habit of being radioactive.  But we can go up the group one period if that element is cheaper and more easily available.  

 

How much is Tesla worth?  This I can calmly assure you: Elon wouldn’t risk the entire company on the continuing availability of anything on which China has a monopoly.  The US military wouldn’t base their technology on any material in which it didn’t hold a fifty year stockpile.  Conclusion: the notion that the world’s industrial powers squirm helplessly in the ruthless talons of Communist China is nonsense.  That absurdity has been intentionally exaggerated for economic reasons.  

 

There is a bright side to it however.  Speculators who understand the ideas or theories are wrong can still make huge profits off of absurd notions. 

 

spike

 

  

 

 

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