Today’s smartphones contain 75% of elements on the periodic table.
Geology is not relegated to a textbook. It is integral to life as we know it. That cell phone in your pocket contains no fewer than 13 minerals that formed from exploding stars and are mined all over the world. The average automobile contains more than a ton of iron and steel, 240 lbs of aluminum, 50 lbs of carbon, 42 lbs of copper, 41 lbs of silicon, 22 lbs of zinc, and more than thirty other mineral commodities, including titanium, platinum, and gold? What about electricity transmission? Electricity travels on wires made from copper and aluminum. Then there are batteries and the list goes on and on.
Join Jim Mosely from the U.S. Geological Survey to learn more about the role that minerals play in our lives, how those minerals are extracted, and potential supply chain risks.
