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130-545: In January 2013 the Department of Energy announced the establishment of the Critical Materials Institute (CMI) at Ames Laboratory, with a mission to develop solutions to the domestic shortages of rare-earth metals and other materials critical to US energy security . In 1942, Frank Spedding of Iowa State College , an expert in the chemistry of rare-earth elements , agreed to set up and direct

260-549: A fissile material . The principal sources of rare-earth elements are the minerals bastnäsite ( RCO 3 F , where R is a mixture of rare-earth elements), monazite ( XPO 4 , where X is a mixture of rare-earth elements and sometimes thorium), and loparite ( (Ce,Na,Ca)(Ti,Nb)O 3 ), and the lateritic ion-adsorption clays . Despite their high relative abundance, rare-earth minerals are more difficult to mine and extract than equivalent sources of transition metals (due in part to their similar chemical properties), making

390-522: A fuel for human consumption to provide energy for direct use (such as for cooking , heating or lighting ), to power heat engines (such as steam or internal combustion engines ) that can propel vehicles , or to generate electricity via steam turbine generators. Some fossil fuels are further refined into derivatives such as kerosene , gasoline and diesel , or converted into petrochemicals such as polyolefins ( plastics ), aromatics and synthetic resins . The origin of fossil fuels

520-655: A just transition and create policy that addresses the societal burdens created by the stranded assets of the fossil fuel industry. International policy, in the form of United Nations ' sustainable development goals for affordable and clean energy and climate action , as well as the Paris Climate Agreement , is designed to facilitate this transition at a global level. In 2021, the International Energy Agency concluded that no new fossil fuel extraction projects could be opened if

650-684: A 1997 recipient of the National Medal of Science , helped confirm the existence of element 106, seaborgium . John Weaver (Ph.D. 1973) , named Scientist of the Year for 1997 by R&D Magazine. Weaver heads the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. James Halligan (B.S. 1962, M.S. 1965, Ph.D. 1967) , president of Oklahoma State University (1994–2002). Allan Mackintosh (deceased 1995), expert on rare-earth metals and President of

780-609: A CO 2 -rich primary magma, by fractional crystallization of an alkaline primary magma, or by separation of a CO 2 -rich immiscible liquid from. These liquids are most commonly forming in association with very deep Precambrian cratons , like the ones found in Africa and the Canadian Shield. Ferrocarbonatites are the most common type of carbonatite to be enriched in REE, and are often emplaced as late-stage, brecciated pipes at

910-573: A chemical research and development program, since called the Ames Project , to accompany the Manhattan Project 's existing physics program. Its purpose was to produce high purity uranium from uranium ores . Harley Wilhelm developed new methods for both reducing and casting uranium metal, making it possible to cast large ingots of the metal and reduce production costs by as much as twenty-fold. About one-third, or around two tons, of

1040-410: A complex mixture of high-molecular weight organic compounds, which yield synthetic crude oil when heated ( pyrolyzed ). With additional processing, they can be employed instead of other established fossil fuels. During the 2010s and 2020s there was disinvestment from exploitation of such resources due to their high carbon cost relative to more easily-processed reserves. Prior to the latter half of

1170-532: A component of magnets in hybrid car motors." The global demand for rare-earth elements (REEs) is expected to increase more than fivefold by 2030. The REE geochemical classification is usually done on the basis of their atomic weight . One of the most common classifications divides REE into 3 groups: light rare earths (LREE - from 57 La to 60 Nd), intermediate (MREE - from 62 Sm to 67 Ho) and heavy (HREE - from 68 Er to 71 Lu). REE usually appear as trivalent ions, except for Ce and Eu which can take

1300-665: A few percent of yttrium). Uranium ores from Ontario have occasionally yielded yttrium as a byproduct. Well-known minerals containing cerium, and other LREE, include bastnäsite , monazite , allanite , loparite , ancylite , parisite , lanthanite , chevkinite, cerite , stillwellite , britholite, fluocerite , and cerianite. Monazite (marine sands from Brazil , India , or Australia ; rock from South Africa ), bastnäsite (from Mountain Pass rare earth mine , or several localities in China), and loparite ( Kola Peninsula , Russia ) have been

1430-425: A lesser extent oil and its derivatives, contributes to atmospheric particulate matter , smog and acid rain . Air pollution from fossil fuels in 2018 has been estimated to cost US$ 2.9 trillion, or 3.3% of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Climate change is largely driven by the release of greenhouse gases like CO 2 , and the burning of fossil fuels is the main source of these emissions. In most parts of

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1560-544: A maximum number of 25 was estimated. The use of X-ray spectra (obtained by X-ray crystallography ) by Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley made it possible to assign atomic numbers to the elements. Moseley found that the exact number of lanthanides had to be 15, but that element 61 had not yet been discovered. (This is promethium, a radioactive element whose most stable isotope has a half-life of just 18 years.) Using these facts about atomic numbers from X-ray crystallography, Moseley also showed that hafnium (element 72) would not be

1690-432: A melt phase if one is present. REE are chemically very similar and have always been difficult to separate, but the gradual decrease in ionic radius from light REE (LREE) to heavy REE (HREE), called the lanthanide contraction , can produce a broad separation between light and heavy REE. The larger ionic radii of LREE make them generally more incompatible than HREE in rock-forming minerals, and will partition more strongly into

1820-404: A melt phase, while HREE may prefer to remain in the crystalline residue, particularly if it contains HREE-compatible minerals like garnet . The result is that all magma formed from partial melting will always have greater concentrations of LREE than HREE, and individual minerals may be dominated by either HREE or LREE, depending on which range of ionic radii best fits the crystal lattice. Among

1950-507: A mine in the village of Ytterby in Sweden ; four of the rare-earth elements bear names derived from this single location. A table listing the 17 rare-earth elements, their atomic number and symbol, the etymology of their names, and their main uses (see also Applications of lanthanides ) is provided here. Some of the rare-earth elements are named after the scientists who discovered them, or elucidated their elemental properties, and some after

2080-584: A national leader in the fields of superconductivity and nondestructive evaluation . In addition, DOE established the Materials Preparation Center to provide public access to the development of new materials. Other key accomplishments from the 1980s included: Encouraged by the United States Department of Energy , in the 1990s Ames Laboratory continued its efforts to transfer basic research findings to industry for

2210-761: A process known as catagenesis . Despite these heat-driven transformations, the energy released in combustion is still photosynthetic in origin. Terrestrial plants tended to form coal and methane. Many of the coal fields date to the Carboniferous period of Earth's history . Terrestrial plants also form type III kerogen , a source of natural gas. Although fossil fuels are continually formed by natural processes, they are classified as non-renewable resources because they take millions of years to form and known viable reserves are being depleted much faster than new ones are generated. Fossil fuels have been important to human development because they can be readily burned in

2340-533: A process still in use. Velmer A. Fassel (Ph.D. 1947) (deceased 1998), developed the inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) analytical process, used for chemical analysis worldwide; former deputy director of the Ames Laboratory. Karl A. Gschneidner, Jr. (B.S. 1952, Ph.D 1957) (deceased) elected Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering in 2007, Gschneidner

2470-414: A quarry in the village of Ytterby , Sweden and termed "rare" because it had never yet been seen. Arrhenius's "ytterbite" reached Johan Gadolin , a Royal Academy of Turku professor, and his analysis yielded an unknown oxide ("earth" in the geological parlance of the day ), which he called yttria . Anders Gustav Ekeberg isolated beryllium from the gadolinite but failed to recognize other elements in

2600-456: A rare-earth element. Moseley was killed in World War I in 1915, years before hafnium was discovered. Hence, the claim of Georges Urbain that he had discovered element 72 was untrue. Hafnium is an element that lies in the periodic table immediately below zirconium , and hafnium and zirconium have very similar chemical and physical properties. During the 1940s, Frank Spedding and others in

2730-406: A result of anaerobic decomposition . Over geological time this organic matter , mixed with mud , became buried under further heavy layers of inorganic sediment. The resulting high temperature and pressure caused the organic matter to chemically alter , first into a waxy material known as kerogen , which is found in oil shales , and then with more heat into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons in

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2860-483: A result of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use. According to head of a fertilizers commodity price agency, "50% of the world's food relies on fertilisers." The burning of fossil fuels has a number of negative externalities  – harmful environmental impacts where the effects extend beyond the people using the fuel. These effects vary between different fuels. All fossil fuels release CO 2 when they burn, thus accelerating climate change . Burning coal, and to

2990-404: A separate group of rare-earth elements (the terbium group), or europium was included in the cerium group, and gadolinium and terbium were included in the yttrium group. In the latter case, the f-block elements are split into half: the first half (La–Eu) form the cerium group, and the second half (Gd–Yb) together with group 3 (Sc, Y, Lu) form the yttrium group. The reason for this division arose from

3120-420: A similar effect. In sedimentary rocks, rare-earth elements in clastic sediments are a representation of provenance. The rare-earth element concentrations are not typically affected by sea and river waters, as rare-earth elements are insoluble and thus have very low concentrations in these fluids. As a result, when sediment is transported, rare-earth element concentrations are unaffected by the fluid and instead

3250-423: A small sample. Other key accomplishments from the 1970s included: In the 1980s research at Ames Laboratory evolved to meet local and national energy needs. Fossil energy research focused on ways to burn coal cleaner. New technologies were developed to clean up nuclear waste sites. High-performance computing research augmented the applied mathematics and solid-state physics programs. Ames Laboratory became

3380-546: A technique that assessed the nature of DNA damage by chemical pollutants. Other key accomplishments of the 1990s included: Frank Spedding (B.S. 1925, M.S. 1926) (deceased 1984), directed the chemistry phase of the Manhattan Project in World War II, which led to the world's first controlled nuclear reaction. He was Iowa State's second member of the National Academy of Sciences and the first director of

3510-423: A temperature of 400 °C (752 °F). These elements and their compounds have no biological function other than in several specialized enzymes, such as in lanthanide-dependent methanol dehydrogenases in bacteria. The water-soluble compounds are mildly to moderately toxic, but the insoluble ones are not. All isotopes of promethium are radioactive, and it does not occur naturally in the earth's crust, except for

3640-515: A trace amount generated by spontaneous fission of uranium-238 . They are often found in minerals with thorium , and less commonly uranium . Though rare-earth elements are technically relatively plentiful in the entire Earth's crust ( cerium being the 25th-most-abundant element at 68 parts per million, more abundant than copper ), in practice this is spread thin across trace impurities, so to obtain rare earths at usable purity requires processing enormous amounts of raw ore at great expense, thus

3770-462: A valence of 3 and form sesquioxides (cerium forms CeO 2 ). Five different crystal structures are known, depending on the element and the temperature. The X-phase and the H-phase are only stable above 2000 K. At lower temperatures, there are the hexagonal A-phase, the monoclinic B-phase, and the cubic C-phase, which is the stable form at room temperature for most of the elements. The C-phase

3900-701: A vital war material. Iowa State University is unique among educational institutions to have received this award for outstanding service, an honor normally given to industry. Other key accomplishments related to the project included: Ames Laboratory was formally established in 1947 by the United States Atomic Energy Commission as a result of the Ames Project's success. During the 1950s the Lab's growing reputation for its work with rare-earth metals rapidly increased its workload. As

4030-521: Is a net increase of many billion tonnes of atmospheric CO 2 per year. Although methane leaks are significant, the burning of fossil fuels is the main source of greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming and ocean acidification . Additionally, most air pollution deaths are due to fossil fuel particulates and noxious gases, and it is estimated that this costs over 3% of the global gross domestic product and that fossil fuel phase-out will save millions of lives each year. Recognition of

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4160-507: Is an attempt to reduce climate change by exerting social, political, and economic pressure for the institutional divestment of assets including stocks, bonds, and other financial instruments connected to companies involved in extracting fossil fuels . Fossil fuel divestment campaigns emerged on college and university campuses in the United States in 2011 with students urging their administrations to turn endowment investments in

4290-465: Is called the bixbyite structure, as it occurs in a mineral of that name ( (Mn,Fe) 2 O 3 ). As seen in the chart, rare-earth elements are found on Earth at similar concentrations to many common transition metals. The most abundant rare-earth element is cerium , which is actually the 25th most abundant element in Earth's crust , having 68 parts per million (about as common as copper). The exception

4420-611: Is high, weathering forms a thick argillized regolith, this process is called supergene enrichment and produces laterite deposits; heavy rare-earth elements are incorporated into the residual clay by absorption. This kind of deposit is only mined for REE in Southern China, where the majority of global heavy rare-earth element production occurs. REE-laterites do form elsewhere, including over the carbonatite at Mount Weld in Australia. REE may also be extracted from placer deposits if

4550-404: Is now considered a very valuable resource. Natural gas deposits are also the main source of helium . Heavy crude oil , which is much more viscous than conventional crude oil, and oil sands , where bitumen is found mixed with sand and clay, began to become more important as sources of fossil fuel in the early 2000s. Oil shale and similar materials are sedimentary rocks containing kerogen ,

4680-445: Is possible to observe the serial trend of the REE by reporting their normalized concentrations against the atomic number. The trends that are observed in "spider" diagrams are typically referred to as "patterns", which may be diagnostic of petrological processes that have affected the material of interest. According to the general shape of the patterns or thanks to the presence (or absence) of so-called "anomalies", information regarding

4810-501: Is sometimes transported by diesel-powered locomotives, while crude oil is typically transported by tanker ships, requiring the combustion of additional fossil fuels. A variety of mitigating efforts have arisen to counter the negative effects of fossil fuels. This includes a movement to use alternative energy sources, such as renewable energy . Environmental regulation uses a variety of approaches to limit these emissions; for example, rules against releasing waste products like fly ash into

4940-443: Is synthetically produced in nuclear reactors. Due to their chemical similarity, the concentrations of rare earths in rocks are only slowly changed by geochemical processes, making their proportions useful for geochronology and dating fossils. Rare-earth elements occur in nature in combination with phosphate ( monazite ), carbonate - fluoride ( bastnäsite ), and oxygen anions. In their oxides, most rare-earth elements only have

5070-528: Is the anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms, whose organic molecules were produced by photosynthetic carbon fixation and sequestered / biomagnified by the food web , creating an underground carbon sink . The conversion from these organic materials to high-carbon fossil fuels typically requires a geological process of millions of years. Due to the length of time it takes nature to form them, fossil fuels are considered non-renewable resources . In 2022, over 80% of primary energy consumption in

5200-517: Is the highly unstable and radioactive promethium "rare earth" is quite scarce. The longest-lived isotope of promethium has a half-life of 17.7 years, so the element exists in nature in only negligible amounts (approximately 572 g in the entire Earth's crust). Promethium is one of the two elements that do not have stable (non-radioactive) isotopes and are followed by (i.e. with higher atomic number) stable elements (the other being technetium ). The rare-earth elements are often found together. During

5330-472: Is used in the construction of roads . The energy for the Green Revolution was provided by fossil fuels in the form of fertilizers (natural gas), pesticides (oil), and hydrocarbon -fueled irrigation . The development of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer has significantly supported global population growth ; it has been estimated that almost half of the Earth's population are currently fed as

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5460-651: Is waging war on nature. This is suicidal. Nature always strikes back – and it is already doing so with growing force and fury." He also claimed there is still cause for hope, anticipating the US plan to join other large emitters like China and the EU in adopting targets to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Fossilflation is a term that describes the impact of fossil fuels on inflation . According to Vox in August 2022 , "Economists have pointed to energy prices as

5590-637: The European Physical Society . James W. Mitchell (Ph.D. 1970) , named Iowa State University's first George Washington Carver Professor in 1994. He won two R&D 100 Awards and the prestigious Percy L. Julian Research Award given by the National Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical Engineers for innovative industrial research. Mitchell was vice president of

5720-563: The Oddo–Harkins rule : even-numbered REE at abundances of about 5% each, and odd-numbered REE at abundances of about 1% each. Similar compositions are found in xenotime or gadolinite. Well-known minerals containing yttrium, and other HREE, include gadolinite, xenotime, samarskite , euxenite , fergusonite , yttrotantalite, yttrotungstite, yttrofluorite (a variety of fluorite ), thalenite, and yttrialite . Small amounts occur in zircon , which derives its typical yellow fluorescence from some of

5850-459: The climate crisis , pollution and other negative impacts caused by fossil fuels has led to a widespread policy transition and activist movement focused on ending their use in favor of renewable and sustainable energy . Because the fossil-fuel industry is so heavily integrated in the global economy and heavily subsidized , this transition is expected to have significant economic impacts. Many stakeholders argue that this change needs to be

5980-603: The fossil fuel industry into investments in clean energy and communities most impacted by climate change . In 2012, Unity College in Maine became the first institution of higher learning to divest its endowment from fossil fuels. By 2015, fossil fuel divestment was reportedly the fastest growing divestment movement in history. As of July 2023, more than 1593 institutions with assets totalling more than $ 40.5  trillion in assets worldwide had begun or committed some form of divestment of fossil fuels. In 2019, Saudi Aramco

6110-407: The health risks of air pollution , and would greatly reduce global carbon emissions thus helping to limit climate change . As of 2021 , policy researchers estimate that substantially more money is spent on fossil fuel subsidies than on environmentally harmful agricultural subsidies or environmentally harmful water subsidies . The International Energy Agency says: "High fossil fuel prices hit

6240-406: The internal combustion engine and its use in automobiles and trucks greatly increased the demand for gasoline and diesel oil , both made from fossil fuels. Other forms of transportation, railways and aircraft, also require fossil fuels. The other major use for fossil fuels is in generating electricity and as feedstock for the petrochemical industry . Tar , a leftover of petroleum extraction,

6370-533: The rare-earth metals or rare earths , and sometimes the lanthanides or lanthanoids (although scandium and yttrium , which do not belong to this series, are usually included as rare earths), are a set of 17 nearly indistinguishable lustrous silvery-white soft heavy metals . Compounds containing rare earths have diverse applications in electrical and electronic components, lasers, glass, magnetic materials, and industrial processes. Scandium and yttrium are considered rare-earth elements because they tend to occur in

6500-486: The upper mantle (200 to 600 km depth). This melt becomes enriched in incompatible elements, like the rare-earth elements, by leaching them out of the crystalline residue. The resultant magma rises as a diapir , or diatreme , along pre-existing fractures, and can be emplaced deep in the crust , or erupted at the surface. Typical REE enriched deposits types forming in rift settings are carbonatites, and A- and M-Type granitoids. Near subduction zones, partial melting of

6630-428: The "heavy" group from 6.965 (ytterbium) to 9.32 (thulium), as well as including yttrium at 4.47. Europium has a density of 5.24. Rare-earth elements, except scandium , are heavier than iron and thus are produced by supernova nucleosynthesis or by the s-process in asymptotic giant branch stars. In nature, spontaneous fission of uranium-238 produces trace amounts of radioactive promethium , but most promethium

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6760-496: The 18th century, windmills and watermills provided the energy needed for work such as milling flour, sawing wood or pumping water, while burning wood or peat provided domestic heat. The wide-scale use of fossil fuels, coal at first and petroleum later, in steam engines enabled the Industrial Revolution . At the same time, gas lights using natural gas or coal gas were coming into wide use. The invention of

6890-418: The 21st century. Combustion of fossil fuels generates sulfuric and nitric acids , which fall to Earth as acid rain, impacting both natural areas and the built environment. Monuments and sculptures made from marble and limestone are particularly vulnerable, as the acids dissolve calcium carbonate . Fossil fuels also contain radioactive materials, mainly uranium and thorium , which are released into

7020-568: The 4 f orbital which acts against the electrons of the 6 s and 5 d orbitals. The lanthanide contraction has a direct effect on the geochemistry of the lanthanides, which show a different behaviour depending on the systems and processes in which they are involved. The effect of the lanthanide contraction can be observed in the REE behaviour both in a CHARAC-type geochemical system (CHArge-and-RAdius-Controlled ) where elements with similar charge and radius should show coherent geochemical behaviour, and in non-CHARAC systems, such as aqueous solutions, where

7150-652: The AVS Medard W. Welch Award, which recognizes outstanding research in the fields of materials, interfaces, and processing (presented in 2014). Edward Yeung , chemistry and Ames Lab, first person to quantitatively analyze the chemical contents of a single human red blood cell, using a device that he designed and built; the development could lead to improved detection of AIDS, cancer and genetic diseases such as Alzheimer's, muscular dystrophy and Down's syndrome. Yeung has won four R&D 100 Awards and an Editor's Choice award from R&D Magazine for this pioneering work. He

7280-824: The Ames Laboratory. Dr. Spedding won the Langmuir Award in 1933, Only Oscar K. Rice and Linus Pauling preceded him in this achievement. The award is now called the Award in Pure Chemistry of the American Chemical Society . He was the first Distinguished Professor of Sciences and Humanities at Iowa State (1957). Further awards included: William H. Nichols Award of the New York section of the American Chemical Society (1952);

7410-627: The COVID-19 pandemic, some argued for the possibility of a base effect phenomenon due to cheaper than normal prices, such as for oil, at the onset of the pandemic, followed by above-average prices which exacerbated the perceived inflation. While not expected to provide much short-term relief, the Inflation Reduction Act seeks to make the United States less dependent on fossil fuels and their ability to cause inflation in

7540-745: The James Douglas Gold Medal from the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers (1961) for achievements in nonferrous metallurgy; and the Francis J. Clamer Award from the Franklin Institute (1969) for achievements in metallurgy. Harley Wilhelm (Ph.D. 1931) (deceased 1995), developed the most efficient process to produce uranium metal for the Manhattan Project, the Ames Process ,

7670-506: The LREE. This has economic consequences: large ore bodies of LREE are known around the world and are being exploited. Ore bodies for HREE are more rare, smaller, and less concentrated. Most of the current supply of HREE originates in the "ion-absorption clay" ores of Southern China. Some versions provide concentrates containing about 65% yttrium oxide, with the HREE being present in ratios reflecting

7800-507: The Materials Research Laboratory at Bell Laboratories , Lucent Technologies . John Corbett (deceased 2013), chemistry and Ames Laboratory, member of the National Academy of Sciences , created the first non- carbon example of buckyballs ; discovered more than 1,000 new materials. Kai-Ming Ho , Che-Ting Chan , and Costas Soukoulis , physics and Ames Laboratory, were the first to design and demonstrate

7930-555: The Rare-Earth Information Center at Ames Lab to provide the scientific and technical communities with information about rare-earth metals and their compounds. Other key accomplishments from the 1960s included: During the 1970s, as the United States Atomic Energy Commission evolved into the United States Department of Energy , efforts diversified as some research programs closed and new ones opened. Federal officials consolidated reactor facilities, leading to

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8060-400: The United States (during the Manhattan Project ) developed chemical ion-exchange procedures for separating and purifying rare-earth elements. This method was first applied to the actinides for separating plutonium-239 and neptunium from uranium , thorium , actinium , and the other actinides in the materials produced in nuclear reactors . Plutonium-239 was very desirable because it is

8190-538: The United States production. In addition to the effects that result from burning, the harvesting, processing, and distribution of fossil fuels also have environmental effects. Coal mining methods, particularly mountaintop removal and strip mining , have negative environmental impacts, and offshore oil drilling poses a hazard to aquatic organisms. Fossil fuel wells can contribute to methane release via fugitive gas emissions . Oil refineries also have negative environmental impacts, including air and water pollution. Coal

8320-449: The accompanying HREE. The zirconium mineral eudialyte , such as is found in southern Greenland , contains small but potentially useful amounts of yttrium. Of the above yttrium minerals, most played a part in providing research quantities of lanthanides during the discovery days. Xenotime is occasionally recovered as a byproduct of heavy-sand processing, but is not as abundant as the similarly recovered monazite (which typically contains

8450-500: The anhydrous rare-earth phosphates, it is the tetragonal mineral xenotime that incorporates yttrium and the HREE, whereas the monoclinic monazite phase incorporates cerium and the LREE preferentially. The smaller size of the HREE allows greater solid solubility in the rock-forming minerals that make up Earth's mantle, and thus yttrium and the HREE show less enrichment in Earth's crust relative to chondritic abundance than does cerium and

8580-465: The atmosphere. In December 2020, the United Nations released a report saying that despite the need to reduce greenhouse emissions, various governments are " doubling down " on fossil fuels, in some cases diverting over 50% of their COVID-19 recovery stimulus funding to fossil fuel production rather than to alternative energy. The UN secretary general António Guterres declared that "Humanity

8710-540: The atmosphere. In 2000, about 12,000 tonnes of thorium and 5,000 tonnes of uranium were released worldwide from burning coal. It is estimated that during 1982, US coal burning released 155 times as much radioactivity into the atmosphere as the Three Mile Island accident . Burning coal also generates large amounts of bottom ash and fly ash . These materials are used in a wide variety of applications (see Fly ash reuse ), utilizing, for example, about 40% of

8840-445: The closure of the research reactor. Ames Laboratory responded by putting new emphasis on applied mathematics , solar power , fossil fuels and pollution control. Innovative analytical techniques were developed to provide precise information from increasingly small samples. Foremost among them was inductively coupled plasma -atomic emission spectroscopy , which could rapidly and simultaneously detect up to 40 different trace metals from

8970-871: The core of igneous complexes; they consist of fine-grained calcite and hematite, sometimes with significant concentrations of ankerite and minor concentrations of siderite. Large carbonatite deposits enriched in rare-earth elements include Mount Weld in Australia, Thor Lake in Canada, Zandkopsdrift in South Africa, and Mountain Pass in the USA. Peralkaline granites (A-Type granitoids) have very high concentrations of alkaline elements and very low concentrations of phosphorus; they are deposited at moderate depths in extensional zones, often as igneous ring complexes, or as pipes, massive bodies, and lenses. These fluids have very low viscosities and high element mobility, which allows for

9100-564: The country explored the uses of nuclear power , lab scientists studied nuclear fuels and structural materials for nuclear reactors . Processes developed at Ames Laboratory resulted in the production of the purest rare-earth metals in the world while at the same time greatly reducing their price. In most cases, Lab facilities served as models for large-scale production of rare-earth metals. Lab scientists took advantage of Iowa State University's synchrotron to pursue medium-energy physics research. Analytical chemistry efforts expanded to keep up with

9230-408: The crude yttria and found the same substances that Mosander obtained, but Berlin named (1860) the substance giving pink salts erbium , and Delafontaine named the substance with the yellow peroxide terbium . This confusion led to several false claims of new elements, such as the mosandrium of J. Lawrence Smith , or the philippium and decipium of Delafontaine. Due to the difficulty in separating

9360-740: The crystallization of large grains, despite a relatively short crystallization time upon emplacement; their large grain size is why these deposits are commonly referred to as pegmatites. Economically viable pegmatites are divided into Lithium-Cesium-Tantalum (LCT) and Niobium-Yttrium-Fluorine (NYF) types; NYF types are enriched in rare-earth minerals. Examples of rare-earth pegmatite deposits include Strange Lake in Canada and Khaladean-Buregtey in Mongolia. Nepheline syenite (M-Type granitoids) deposits are 90% feldspar and feldspathoid minerals. They are deposited in small, circular massifs and contain high concentrations of rare-earth-bearing accessory minerals . For

9490-711: The data show that fossil fuels cause the highest levels of greenhouse gas emissions and are the most dangerous for human health. In contrast, modern renewable energy sources appear to be safer for human health and cleaner. The death rates from accidents and air pollution in the EU are as follows per terawatt-hour (TWh): As the data shows, coal, oil, natural gas, and biomass cause higher death rates and higher levels of greenhouse gas emissions than hydropower, nuclear energy, wind, and solar power. Scientists propose that 1.8 million lives have been saved by replacing fossil fuel sources with nuclear power. Fossil fuel divestment or fossil fuel divestment and investment in climate solutions

9620-430: The development of new materials, products, and processes. The Scalable Computing Laboratory was established to find ways of making parallel computing accessible and cost-effective for the scientific community. Researchers discovered the first non-carbon example of buckyballs , a new material important in the field of microelectronics . Scientists developed a DNA sequencer that was 24 times faster than other devices, and

9750-413: The difference in solubility of rare-earth double sulfates with sodium and potassium. The sodium double sulfates of the cerium group are poorly soluble, those of the terbium group slightly, and those of the yttrium group are very soluble. Sometimes, the yttrium group was further split into the erbium group (dysprosium, holmium, erbium, and thulium) and the ytterbium group (ytterbium and lutetium), but today

9880-931: The economy. Moody's estimates that by 2030, the bill could reduce the typical American household's spending on energy by more than $ 300 each year, in 2022 dollars. Environmental pollution from fossil fuels impacts humans because particulates and other air pollution from fossil fuel combustion may cause illness and death when inhaled. These health effects include premature death, acute respiratory illness, aggravated asthma, chronic bronchitis and decreased lung function. The poor, undernourished, very young and very old, and people with preexisting respiratory disease and other ill health are more at risk. Global air pollution deaths due to fossil fuels have been estimated at over 8 million people (2018, nearly 1 in 5 deaths worldwide) at 10.2 million (2019), and 5.13 million excess deaths from ambient air pollution from fossil fuel use (2023). While all energy sources inherently have adverse effects,

10010-409: The electron structure is also an important parameter to consider as the lanthanide contraction affects the ionic potential . A direct consequence is that, during the formation of coordination bonds, the REE behaviour gradually changes along the series. Furthermore, the lanthanide contraction causes the ionic radius of Ho (0.901 Å) to be almost identical to that of Y (0.9 Å), justifying the inclusion of

10140-651: The element showing the anomaly and the predictable one based on the average of the normalized concentrations of the two elements in the previous and next position in the series, according to the equation: where [ REE i ] n {\displaystyle [{\text{REE}}_{i}]_{n}} is the normalized concentration of the element whose anomaly has to be calculated, [ REE i − 1 ] n {\displaystyle [{\text{REE}}_{i-1}]_{n}} and [ REE i + 1 ] n {\displaystyle [{\text{REE}}_{i+1}]_{n}}

10270-417: The existence of an unknown element. The fractional crystallization of the oxides then yielded europium in 1901. In 1839 the third source for rare earths became available. This is a mineral similar to gadolinite called uranotantalum (now called " samarskite ") an oxide of a mixture of elements such as yttrium, ytterbium, iron, uranium, thorium, calcium, niobium, and tantalum. This mineral from Miass in

10400-626: The existence of photonic band gap crystals, a discovery that led to the development of the rapidly expanding field of photonic crystals . Photonic crystals are expected to have revolutionary applications in optical communication and other areas of light technology. Soukoulis is a recipient of the Descartes Prize for Excellence in Scientific Collaborative Research , the European Union ’s highest honor in

10530-547: The field of science. Dan Shechtman , materials science and engineering and Associate of Ames National Laboratory, awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of quasicrystals at Johns Hopkins University . Patricia Thiel (deceased 2020), chemistry and Ames Laboratory, received one of the first 100 National Science Foundation Women in Science and Engineering Awards (presented in 1991). Also received

10660-511: The following observations apply: anomalies in europium are dominated by the crystallization of feldspars . Hornblende , controls the enrichment of MREE compared to LREE and HREE. Depletion of LREE relative to HREE may be due to the crystallization of olivine , orthopyroxene , and clinopyroxene . On the other hand, the depletion of HREE relative to LREE may be due to the presence of garnet , as garnet preferentially incorporates HREE into its crystal structure. The presence of zircon may also cause

10790-433: The form of Ce and Eu depending on the redox conditions of the system. Consequentially, REE are characterized by a substantial identity in their chemical reactivity, which results in a serial behaviour during geochemical processes rather than being characteristic of a single element of the series. Sc, Y, and Lu can be electronically distinguished from the other rare earths because they do not have f valence electrons, whereas

10920-566: The fractionation of trace elements (including rare-earth elements) into the liquid phase (the melt/magma) into the solid phase (the mineral). If an element preferentially remains in the solid phase it is termed 'compatible', and if it preferentially partitions into the melt phase it is described as 'incompatible'. Each element has a different partition coefficient, and therefore fractionates into solid and liquid phases distinctly. These concepts are also applicable to metamorphic and sedimentary petrology. In igneous rocks, particularly in felsic melts,

11050-405: The geographical locations where discovered. A mnemonic for the names of the sixth-row elements in order is "Lately college parties never produce sexy European girls that drink heavily even though you look". Rare earths were mainly discovered as components of minerals. Ytterbium was found in the "ytterbite" (renamed to gadolinite in 1800) discovered by Lieutenant Carl Axel Arrhenius in 1787 at

11180-474: The global economy and society wants to avoid the worst impacts of climate change and meet international goals for climate change mitigation . The theory that fossil fuels formed from the fossilized remains of dead plants by exposure to heat and pressure in Earth's crust over millions of years was first introduced by Andreas Libavius "in his 1597 Alchemia [Alchymia]" and later by Mikhail Lomonosov "as early as 1757 and certainly by 1763". The first use of

11310-586: The greatest number of highly cited papers (among the top 1 percent for their subject field and year of publication between 2002 and 2012). Costas Soukoulis , physics and Ames Laboratory, received the Max Born Award from the Optical Society of America in 2014. The award honors a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the scientific field of physical optics. Rare-earth metals The rare-earth elements ( REE ), also called

11440-448: The heavy rare-earth elements (HREE), and those that fall in between are typically referred to as the middle rare-earth elements (MREE). Commonly, rare-earth elements with atomic numbers 57 to 61 (lanthanum to promethium) are classified as light and those with atomic numbers 62 and greater are classified as heavy rare-earth elements. Increasing atomic numbers between light and heavy rare-earth elements and decreasing atomic radii throughout

11570-465: The importance of energy, transport and chemical industries to local, national and international economies, these lobbies have the capacity and money to attempt to have outsized influence on governmental policy. In particular, the lobbies have been known to obstruct policy related to environmental protection , environmental health and climate action . Lobbies are active in most fossil-fuel intensive economies with democratic governance, with reporting on

11700-470: The latter among the REE. The application of rare-earth elements to geology is important to understanding the petrological processes of igneous , sedimentary and metamorphic rock formation. In geochemistry , rare-earth elements can be used to infer the petrological mechanisms that have affected a rock due to the subtle atomic size differences between the elements, which causes preferential fractionation of some rare earths relative to others depending on

11830-588: The lobbies most prominent in Canada, Australia, the United States and Europe, however the lobbies are present in many parts of the world. Big Oil companies such as ExxonMobil , Shell , BP , TotalEnergies , Chevron Corporation , and ConocoPhillips are among the largest corporations associated with the fossil fuels lobby. The American Petroleum Institute is a powerful industry lobbyist for Big Oil with significant influence in Washington, D.C. In Australia, Australian Energy Producers , formerly known as

11960-418: The logarithm to the base 10 of the value. Commonly, the rare-earth elements are normalized to chondritic meteorites , as these are believed to be the closest representation of unfractionated Solar System material. However, other normalizing standards can be applied depending on the purpose of the study. Normalization to a standard reference value, especially of a material believed to be unfractionated, allows

12090-472: The main grouping is between the cerium and the yttrium groups. Today, the rare-earth elements are classified as light or heavy rare-earth elements, rather than in cerium and yttrium groups. The classification of rare-earth elements is inconsistent between authors. The most common distinction between rare-earth elements is made by atomic numbers ; those with low atomic numbers are referred to as light rare-earth elements (LREE), those with high atomic numbers are

12220-493: The main reason for high inflation," noting that "energy prices indirectly affect virtually every part of the economy". Sectors that raise prices significantly as a result of higher fossil fuel prices include transportation, food, and shipping. Mark Zandi of Moody's says that fossil fuel prices have driven every big episode of inflation since WWII. The economic impact of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022

12350-522: The metals (and determining the separation is complete), the total number of false discoveries was dozens, with some putting the total number of discoveries at over a hundred. There were no further discoveries for 30 years, and the element didymium was listed in the periodic table of elements with a molecular mass of 138. In 1879, Delafontaine used the new physical process of optical flame spectroscopy and found several new spectral lines in didymia. Also in 1879, Paul Émile Lecoq de Boisbaudran isolated

12480-697: The most part, these deposits are small but important examples include Illimaussaq-Kvanefeld in Greenland, and Lovozera in Russia. Rare-earth elements can also be enriched in deposits by secondary alteration either by interactions with hydrothermal fluids or meteoric water or by erosion and transport of resistate REE-bearing minerals. Argillization of primary minerals enriches insoluble elements by leaching out silica and other soluble elements, recrystallizing feldspar into clay minerals such kaolinite, halloysite, and montmorillonite. In tropical regions where precipitation

12610-415: The name "rare" earths. Because of their geochemical properties, rare-earth elements are typically dispersed and not often found concentrated in rare-earth minerals . Consequently, economically exploitable ore deposits are sparse. The first rare-earth mineral discovered (1787) was gadolinite , a black mineral composed of cerium, yttrium, iron, silicon, and other elements. This mineral was extracted from

12740-401: The need to analyze new materials. Other key accomplishments from the 1950s included: During the 1960s the Lab reached peak employment as its scientists continued exploring new materials. As part of that effort, the Lab built a 5-megawatt heavy water reactor for neutron diffraction studies and additional isotope separation research. The United States Atomic Energy Commission established

12870-560: The new element samarium from the mineral samarskite . The samaria earth was further separated by Lecoq de Boisbaudran in 1886, and a similar result was obtained by Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac by direct isolation from samarskite. They named the element gadolinium after Johan Gadolin , and its oxide was named " gadolinia ". Further spectroscopic analysis between 1886 and 1901 of samaria, yttria, and samarskite by William Crookes , Lecoq de Boisbaudran and Eugène-Anatole Demarçay yielded several new spectral lines that indicated

13000-424: The normalized concentration, [ REE i ] sam {\displaystyle {[{\text{REE}}_{i}]_{\text{sam}}}} the analytical concentration of the element measured in the sample, and [ REE i ] ref {\displaystyle {[{\text{REE}}_{i}]_{\text{ref}}}} the concentration of the same element in the reference material. It

13130-427: The normalized concentrations of the respectively previous and next elements along the series. The rare-earth elements patterns observed in igneous rocks are primarily a function of the chemistry of the source where the rock came from, as well as the fractionation history the rock has undergone. Fractionation is in turn a function of the partition coefficients of each element. Partition coefficients are responsible for

13260-432: The observed abundances to be compared to the initial abundances of the element. Normalization also removes the pronounced 'zig-zag' pattern caused by the differences in abundance between even and odd atomic numbers . Normalization is carried out by dividing the analytical concentrations of each element of the series by the concentration of the same element in a given standard, according to the equation: where n indicates

13390-463: The open atmosphere to produce heat. The use of peat as a domestic fuel predates recorded history. Coal was burned in some early furnaces for the smelting of metal ore , while semi-solid hydrocarbons from oil seeps were also burned in ancient times, they were mostly used for waterproofing and embalming . Commercial exploitation of petroleum began in the 19th century. Natural gas, once flared-off as an unneeded byproduct of petroleum production,

13520-524: The ore. After this discovery in 1794, a mineral from Bastnäs near Riddarhyttan , Sweden, which was believed to be an iron – tungsten mineral, was re-examined by Jöns Jacob Berzelius and Wilhelm Hisinger . In 1803 they obtained a white oxide and called it ceria . Martin Heinrich Klaproth independently discovered the same oxide and called it ochroia . It took another 30 years for researchers to determine that other elements were contained in

13650-414: The others do, but the chemical behaviour is almost the same. A distinguishing factor in the geochemical behaviour of the REE is linked to the so-called " lanthanide contraction " which represents a higher-than-expected decrease in the atomic/ionic radius of the elements along the series. This is determined by the variation of the shielding effect towards the nuclear charge due to the progressive filling of

13780-408: The poor hardest, but subsidies are rarely well-targeted to protect vulnerable groups and tend to benefit better-off segments of the population." The fossil fuels lobby includes paid representatives of corporations involved in the fossil fuel industry ( oil , gas , coal ), as well as related industries like chemicals , plastics , aviation and other transportation. Because of their wealth and

13910-446: The principal ores of cerium and the light lanthanides. Enriched deposits of rare-earth elements at the surface of the Earth, carbonatites and pegmatites , are related to alkaline plutonism , an uncommon kind of magmatism that occurs in tectonic settings where there is rifting or that are near subduction zones. In a rift setting, the alkaline magma is produced by very small degrees of partial melting (<1%) of garnet peridotite in

14040-440: The processes at work. The geochemical study of the REE is not carried out on absolute concentrations – as it is usually done with other chemical elements – but on normalized concentrations in order to observe their serial behaviour. In geochemistry, rare-earth elements are typically presented in normalized "spider" diagrams, in which concentration of rare-earth elements are normalized to a reference standard and are then expressed as

14170-421: The rare-earth elements relatively expensive. Their industrial use was very limited until efficient separation techniques were developed, such as ion exchange , fractional crystallization, and liquid–liquid extraction during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Some ilmenite concentrates contain small amounts of scandium and other rare-earth elements, which could be analysed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF). Before

14300-482: The rock retains the rare-earth element concentration from its source. Fossil energy A fossil fuel is a carbon compound - or hydrocarbon -containing material formed naturally in the Earth's crust from the buried remains of prehistoric organisms ( animals , plants or planktons ), a process that occurs within geological formations . Reservoirs of such compound mixtures , such as coal , petroleum and natural gas , can be extracted and burnt as

14430-485: The same ore deposits as the lanthanides and exhibit similar chemical properties, but have different electrical and magnetic properties . The term 'rare-earth' is a misnomer because they are not actually scarce, although historically it took a long time to isolate these elements. These metals tarnish slowly in air at room temperature and react slowly with cold water to form hydroxides, liberating hydrogen. They react with steam to form oxides and ignite spontaneously at

14560-636: The seafloor, bit by bit, over tens of millions of years. One square patch of metal-rich mud 2.3 kilometers wide might contain enough rare earths to meet most of the global demand for a year, Japanese geologists report in Nature Geoscience ." "I believe that rare[-]earth resources undersea are much more promising than on-land resources," said Kato. "[C]oncentrations of rare earths were comparable to those found in clays mined in China. Some deposits contained twice as much heavy rare earths such as dysprosium,

14690-493: The sedimentary parent lithology contains REE-bearing, heavy resistate minerals. In 2011, Yasuhiro Kato, a geologist at the University of Tokyo who led a study of Pacific Ocean seabed mud, published results indicating the mud could hold rich concentrations of rare-earth minerals. The deposits, studied at 78 sites, came from "[h]ot plumes from hydrothermal vents pull[ing] these materials out of seawater and deposit[ing] them on

14820-419: The sequential accretion of the Earth, the dense rare-earth elements were incorporated into the deeper portions of the planet. Early differentiation of molten material largely incorporated the rare earths into mantle rocks. The high field strength and large ionic radii of rare earths make them incompatible with the crystal lattices of most rock-forming minerals, so REE will undergo strong partitioning into

14950-497: The series causes chemical variations. Europium is exempt of this classification as it has two valence states: Eu and Eu . Yttrium is grouped as heavy rare-earth element due to chemical similarities. The break between the two groups is sometimes put elsewhere, such as between elements 63 (europium) and 64 (gadolinium). The actual metallic densities of these two groups overlap, with the "light" group having densities from 6.145 (lanthanum) to 7.26 (promethium) or 7.52 (samarium) g/cc, and

15080-401: The southern Ural Mountains was documented by Gustav Rose . The Russian chemist R. Harmann proposed that a new element he called " ilmenium " should be present in this mineral, but later, Christian Wilhelm Blomstrand , Galissard de Marignac, and Heinrich Rose found only tantalum and niobium ( columbium ) in it. The exact number of rare-earth elements that existed was highly unclear, and

15210-766: The subducting plate within the asthenosphere (80 to 200 km depth) produces a volatile-rich magma (high concentrations of CO 2 and water), with high concentrations of alkaline elements, and high element mobility that the rare earths are strongly partitioned into. This melt may also rise along pre-existing fractures, and be emplaced in the crust above the subducting slab or erupted at the surface. REE-enriched deposits forming from these melts are typically S-Type granitoids. Alkaline magmas enriched with rare-earth elements include carbonatites, peralkaline granites (pegmatites), and nepheline syenite . Carbonatites crystallize from CO 2 -rich fluids, which can be produced by partial melting of hydrous-carbonated lherzolite to produce

15340-399: The system under examination and the occurring geochemical processes can be obtained. The anomalies represent enrichment (positive anomalies) or depletion (negative anomalies) of specific elements along the series and are graphically recognizable as positive or negative "peaks" along the REE patterns. The anomalies can be numerically quantified as the ratio between the normalized concentration of

15470-695: The term "fossil fuel" occurs in the work of the German chemist Caspar Neumann , in English translation in 1759. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that in the phrase "fossil fuel" the adjective "fossil" means "[o]btained by digging; found buried in the earth", which dates to at least 1652, before the English noun "fossil" came to refer primarily to long-dead organisms in the early 18th century. Aquatic phytoplankton and zooplankton that died and sedimented in large quantities under anoxic conditions millions of years ago began forming petroleum and natural gas as

15600-479: The time that ion exchange methods and elution were available, the separation of the rare earths was primarily achieved by repeated precipitation or crystallization . In those days, the first separation was into two main groups, the cerium earths (lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, and samarium) and the yttrium earths (scandium, yttrium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium). Europium, gadolinium, and terbium were either considered as

15730-484: The two ores ceria and yttria (the similarity of the rare-earth metals' chemical properties made their separation difficult). In 1839 Carl Gustav Mosander , an assistant of Berzelius, separated ceria by heating the nitrate and dissolving the product in nitric acid . He called the oxide of the soluble salt lanthana . It took him three more years to separate the lanthana further into didymia and pure lanthana. Didymia, although not further separable by Mosander's techniques,

15860-654: The uranium used in the first self-sustaining nuclear reaction at the University of Chicago was provided through these procedures, now known as the Ames Process . The Ames Project produced more than two million pounds (1,000 short tons; 910,000 kg) of uranium for the Manhattan Project until industry took over the process in 1945. The Ames Project received the Army-Navy 'E' Award for Excellence in Production on October 12, 1945, signifying two-and-a-half years of excellence in industrial production of metallic uranium as

15990-560: The world and over 60% of its electricity supply were from fossil fuels. The large-scale burning of fossil fuels causes serious environmental damage . Over 70% of the greenhouse gas emissions due to human activity in 2022 was carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) released from burning fossil fuels. Natural carbon cycle processes on Earth, mostly absorption by the ocean , can remove only a small part of this, and terrestrial vegetation loss due to deforestation , land degradation and desertification further compounds this deficiency. Therefore, there

16120-502: The world climate change is negatively impacting ecosystems . This includes contributing to the extinction of species and reducing people's ability to produce food, thus adding to the problem of world hunger . Continued rises in global temperatures will lead to further adverse effects on both ecosystems and people; the World Health Organization has said that climate change is the greatest threat to human health in

16250-480: Was a major recent example of fossil fuels causing inflation. Some economists, including Isabel Schnabel , believe that dependence on fossil fuels is the main driver of the 2021-2022 inflation spike . Gernot Wagner argues that commodities are undesirable energy sources because they are susceptible to volatile price swings that technologies like renewable energy are not. He also argues that technologies improve and get relatively cheaper over time. Coming out of

16380-644: Was a world authority in the physical metallurgy, and thermal and electrical behavior of rare-earth materials. Gschneidner was a Fellow of the Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society, Fellow of the American Society for Materials International, and Fellow of the American Physical Society . James Renier (Ph.D. 1955) (deceased 2019), chairman and chief executive officer of Honeywell Inc. (1988–93). Darleane C. Hoffman (Ph.D. 1951) ,

16510-492: Was in fact still a mixture of oxides. In 1842 Mosander also separated the yttria into three oxides: pure yttria, terbia, and erbia (all the names are derived from the town name "Ytterby"). The earth giving pink salts he called terbium ; the one that yielded yellow peroxide he called erbium . In 1842 the number of known rare-earth elements had reached six: yttrium, cerium, lanthanum, didymium, erbium, and terbium. Nils Johan Berlin and Marc Delafontaine tried also to separate

16640-753: Was listed and it reached a US$ 2 trillion valuation on its second day of trading, after the world's largest initial public offering. Fossil fuel subsidies are energy subsidies on fossil fuels, and in 2023 totalled over 1 trillion dollars. They may be tax breaks on consumption , such as a lower sales tax on natural gas for residential heating ; or subsidies on production , such as tax breaks on exploration for oil . Or they may be free or cheap negative externalities ; such as air pollution or climate change due to burning gasoline , diesel and jet fuel . Some fossil fuel subsidies are via electricity generation , such as subsidies for coal-fired power stations . Eliminating fossil fuel subsidies would reduce

16770-494: Was once thought to be in space group I 2 1 3 (no. 199), but is now known to be in space group Ia 3 (no. 206). The structure is similar to that of fluorite or cerium dioxide (in which the cations form a face-centred cubic lattice and the anions sit inside the tetrahedra of cations), except that one-quarter of the anions (oxygen) are missing. The unit cell of these sesquioxides corresponds to eight unit cells of fluorite or cerium dioxide, with 32 cations instead of 4. This

16900-726: Was the 2002 recipient of the American Chemical Society Award in Chromatography for his research in chemical separations. Klaus Ruedenberg , physics and Ames Laboratory, 2001 recipient of the American Chemical Society Award in Theoretical Chemistry for his innovative research in the field of theoretical chemistry . Paul Canfield, Sergey Bud'ko, Costas Soukoulis , physics and Ames Laboratory, named to Thomas Reuters' World's Most Influential Scientific Minds 2014. The award recognizes

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