trace elements are like seasoning added to food

Categories: Comparisons

"So, just like adding salt and pepper to a meal makes it taste better:

  • putting a little rhenium in a jet engine makes it burn faster and hotter;
  • putting a little scandium in an aeroplane makes it lighter and stronger;
  • and putting a little indium in your mobile phone makes the touchscreen work."
Allison Britt

Allison Britt, Director of Mineral Resources Advice & Promotion, Geoscience Australia was giving a live talk for an episode ('Unseen minerals all around us') of 'Okham's Razor'.

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Author: Keith

Former school and college science teacher, teacher educator, research supervisor, and research methods lecturer. Emeritus Professor of Science Education at the University of Cambridge.