Worth Its Weight in Gold稀土如金

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Rare earths include 17 nearly identical， silvery-white， heavy metals. While they are relatively plentiful in Earth’s crust—even more abundant than copper—their production proves challenging. Rare earths tend to be spread out in their ores. So， getting purified rare earth metals requires processing enormous amounts of raw ore at great expense， thus making it “rare”.

You might think you would only come across rare earths in your chemistry textbook， but in fact they are part of your daily life. A typical example is their contributions to smartphones. Neodymium， for example， plays a crucial role in making the tiny yet powerful magnets responsible for the vibrations in your phone. Meanwhile， elements like terbium are responsible for producing the bright and pretty colors that grace your screen.

稀土是17种十分相似的银白色重金属元素的总称。（剩余1483字）