“Minerals have talent”. They are everywhere and even where you least expect them. They are everywhere in your kitchen, in the dog’s kibble in your smartphone or even your car. Discover them until the end of autumn with the GeoRessource laboratory, at the National School of Geology.
There are over 400 minerals, many of which contain metallic elements. We use them all day long. They are present in our bathroom, in our kitchen, in our smartphones and much more. For amateurs, two solutions to discover them: a virtual tour here or a free visit in Nancy, at theNational School of Geology until late fall 2022.
–
In an interactive table of elements, one can find some examples of their presence.
In a car, there is titanium for painting; platinum, palladium and rhodium for the catalysts; copper for brakes, zinc for tires and a few of all the metals of the periodic table to produce alloys common to all vehicles.
Condiments and spices are among the foods that undergo a physical process of treatment to improve sanitary quality and increase preservation, thanks to the elimination of microorganisms such as salmonella and Escherichia coli. Cobalt and cesium are the most used elements in this process.
To drink from a glass, in addition to silicon, you need sodium, magnesium and aluminum. For crystal glasses, you also need lead. Optical fiber requires the use of erbium, europium, terbium and l‘yttrium, so many rare earths essential for these very fine filaments.
–
When you are a geologist, you find that all minerals have talent.
Sylvie André-Mayer, director of the Geo Ressource laboratory and professor at the University of Lorraine
–
For Anne-Sylvie André-Mayer, director of the Geo Ressource laboratory and professor at the University of Lorraine, their talents are multiple: “when you are a geologist, you find that all minerals have talent. Minerals are made up of atoms. The bonds of these atoms will give them somewhat special properties. They will allow them to be conductors for some or to have unique characteristics that will make them very useful in everyday objects. Here a pyrite mineral or an iron sulphide, our mineral is a cube which is very well organized. It can be in isolated cubes of this kind or dispersed, disseminated in a rock which will contain it. They also have aesthetic talents“.
–
Other concrete examples found in the interactive element chart.
Hard silver, with 7.5% silver, is the most widely used metal for making jewelry, as is copper, another metal. It is followed by gold, usually alloyed with other metals such as silver, copper, nickel or zinc. Pure gold is soft and malleable. Other precious metals in this industry are platinum (the most expensive) and titanium (the strongest).
Some sportswear is also fortified with metals. Silver is used in socks and t-shirts to neutralize odors and the bacteria that cause them; the zippers are made of zinc, coated with Chrome; the reflectors are made of aluminum and, in general, several parts incorporate copper for its antibacterial properties.
The electric motor is very greedy. Samarium, cobalt, aluminum, nickel, rare earths like dysprosium and praseodymium and neodymium, iron and boron magnets, it needs all of these and more.
–
Today, we need almost fifty chemical elements in a single object like a smartphone.
Our metal needs are constantly increasing, explains Anne-Sylvie André-Mayer: “today, we need almost fifty chemical elements in a single object such as a smartphone, for example. In the 18th century, a few were enough, for the most used objects. By the way, for our mobile phones, the metals come from countless countries“.
She adds : “We see, with the Ukrainian news, that the stakes of metallic resources are global. We wanted to deal with this theme on a European scale.”
–
Minerals have talent, it is also a traveling European exhibition, led by the University of Lorraine. After Estonia and Finland, she made a stopover in Nancy, at theNational School of Geology until the end of autumn 2022. It is completely free. Guided tours are possible on Saturday mornings. The exhibition can also be visited in a completely virtual way, ici.
You will see a rreport dedicated to the exhibition in Nancy, here.
Minerals have talent is a European project funded by EIT Raw Material. It is piloted by the University of Lorraine in collaboration with the University of TalTech in Estonia, University of Oulu in Finland, FCT Universidade Novoa de Lisboa in Portugal, BRGM and Czech Geological Survey in the Czech Republic. After the 2022 standalone, the exhibition will leave Nancy and France for another European country.
–
