How can we protect endangered elements? Give very short answer
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Answer:
Explanation:The earth is finite and so are the chemical elements of which it is composed. Those elements, represented by the symbols that fill the boxes of the periodic table, fuel all human consumption. Yet we are mining and redistributing these fundamental elements at such a rapid rate that many are already in short supply or likely to become so in the next few decades. To maintain supply lines to the dinner table and to industry, we must completely reframe our understanding of mining, consumption, human environments, and waste, recognizing that the accessible elemental resources of our future are largely stored aboveground in the familiar objects of our daily lives.
The situation is so critical that in a recent report of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a color-coded periodic table indicated the degree to which the basic building blocks of human consumption are now “endangered elements” (see Figure 1).1 Chemical elements are being shifted out of their natural reserves in deposits in the earth’s crust and into human consumables at a remarkable rate. As far back as 20 years ago, a study conducted at Kyoto University based on data from that time concluded that 80 percent of the world’s mercury (element number Z = 80) reserves; 75 percent of its silver (Z = 47), tin (Z = 50), and lead (Z = 82); 70 percent of gold (Z = 79) and zinc (Z = 30); and 50 percent of copper (Z = 29) and manganese (Z = 25) had already been processed through human products.2
Some of the elements under serious threat are familiar. Silver, for example, which is used as a catalyst for a wide variety of chemical reactions in manufacturing, and zinc, used to protect iron and steel against corrosion.
Other, less well-appreciated elements that form the basis of modern life are also being consumed unsustainably, including tellurium (Z = 52) and hafnium (Z = 72), both of which are used in electrical devices and special metallic alloys. Indium (Z = 49), a common ingredient of solar cells and computer displays is on the endangered list, as is neodymium (Z = 60), an important building block of magnets used in many industries (e.g., for wind turbines, car batteries, and computer hard-disk drives) as well as in ceramics and glasses.
The rapid disposal of mobile phones, laptop computers, and batteries is placing large stores of some of the rarest elements directly into the waste bin, including gold, silver, and indium. It is important to realize, however, that mining urban dumps will not provide a full solution to the endangered element dilemma. This is because most “aboveground” metals are contained in products that are actively in use by humans rather than those used for processing, manufacturing, or discarded as waste. As an example, nearly half the world’s past and current zinc reserves appear to be aboveground and in use. So changing the pattern of human consumption of elements will also need to play a role in maintaining their availability.
Unfortunately, accurate estimates of the exact amount of the elements currently in human use around the world are hindered by large gaps in our understanding. Reasonably robust global estimates do exist for the amount of in-use aluminum, lead, copper, zinc, and iron.3 Of these, lead, copper, and zinc are on the endangered list. Comparison with underground global ore reserves4 indicates
Answer:By recycling phosphorus from sewage
Explanation: