This week the Geol9 class will explore minerals and rocks
and how relevant they are as resources in different parts of the world. In
particular, we will pay attention on how hard/soft the material is.
In my case, I chose to work with an element, which the USA
is a net exporter of: Molybdenum (yes,
I picked the one with the complicated name, well, of course!). With a chemical
symbol ‘Mo’, its name comes from the Greek work of ‘lead’ as it was confused
with lead ore (like galena) often.
I started searching in the USGS website about mineral data around
the world: the USGS International
Minerals Statistics and Information website. I also read the Mineral
Commodity Summary for 2014, which shows molybdenum (see image from Wikipedia) as a rising
star regarding net exports. The USGS
2015 Report on it shows that last year, molybdenum, valued at about $1.8
billion, was produced at 13 mines. Molybdenum ore was produced as a primary
product at three mines in Colorado and Idaho; and ten copper mines (in Arizona,
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah) recovered molybdenum as a byproduct.
How hard is it? Well, it is very hard, but softer and more ductile than tungsten. Molybdenum has a high elastic
modulus, and only tungsten and tantalum have higher melting points. Molybdenum
is used to alloy many specialty steels. Some other common uses for molybdenum are
electrodes, furnace applications, nuclear energy and missile and aircraft parts. Very recently a new application of this element
in thin-film transistors was published (see Phys.org paper). It seems like
we
use it far more times that we think!
On a different note, and as 2015 is the International Year
of Soils, I wanted to post a link where you can find out more about related
events worldwide: International
Year of Soils link. And if you like stickers,…well…go to Free 'I love soil' stickers website
and get yours!
ah yes, molybdenum! (mol-ihb-denum) one of my favorite words to make me sound smart when I know the correct pronunciation. ;) I worked in metal working for many years and am very familiar with it as a strengthening agent in many of the alloys we use today. It is used in small quantities (2-8% in Inconel, the alloy that most aircraft engine parts are made out of) but is crucial because of it's unique properties. I did not know of it's application in thin film transistors though, very cool!
ReplyDelete