What the hell are rare earth elements?

Yeah this was more an overview of the industry and how the USA and China diverged on control and production. A really good article. But yeah, a gap of actually listing the elements and a single image depiction doesn’t include full names (just periodic table abbreviations).

From ChatGPT:

Light Rare Earth Elements (LREEs)

  1. Lanthanum (La): camera lenses, hybrid vehicle batteries
  2. Cerium (Ce): glass polishing, catalytic converters
  3. Praseodymium (Pr): magnets, aircraft engines
  4. Neodymium (Nd): powerful magnets (hard drives, EV motors)
  5. Promethium (Pm): radioactive, used in nuclear batteries

Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs)

  6. Samarium (Sm): magnets, nuclear reactors
  7. Europium (Eu): red/blue phosphors in screens
  8. Gadolinium (Gd): MRI contrast, neutron capture
  9. Terbium (Tb): green phosphors, solid-state devices
 10. Dysprosium (Dy): heat-resistant magnets
 11. Holmium (Ho): high-strength magnets
 12. Erbium (Er): fiber optics, lasers
 13. Thulium (Tm): portable X-ray machines
 14. Ytterbium (Yb): stainless steel, lasers
 15. Lutetium (Lu): cancer treatment, PET scans

Other Rare Earths.

16. Scandium (Sc): aerospace alloys, sports equipment. 17. Yttrium (Y): superconductors, LEDs, cancer therapy

In table form : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare-earth_element