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Smartphones contain about 70 of the elements.

At the heart of chemistry is the periodic table. This visual representation of elements found in our ecosystem gives us insight into just how much science goes into building a high-quality smartphone. In this table, there are 83 non-radioactive elements. Of these, at least 70 can be found in smartphones. This means that 84% of stable elements found on the earth are contained within your cell phone! A large percentage of elements contained in a smartphone is metals. Of the at least 70 elements that are found in smartphones, around 62 are metals. It doesn’t stop there either—smartphones actually utilize some of the most rare forms of metals, appropriately called rare-earth metals. Elements such as scandium and yttrium are among these. These obscure metals are responsible for many of the bright-red, green, and blue colors that appear on your smartphone’s display. These same metals are also used in your phone’s speaker and in the

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SMARTPHONES