Menu
Canada Windsor
  • Curation Policy
Canada Windsor
What’s in your Smartphone?

What’s in your Smartphone?

Posted on October 13, 2019 by Walter Gibson


The lines are probably already forming for
the new iphone six. After months and months of rumors, we finally know what it will look
like, and what kind of horsepower it’s packing. But how much do you really know about that
piece of technology in your pocket? For instance, a typical smartphone contains
about 300 milligrams of silver and 30 milligrams of gold. The gold and silver used to manufacture
phones this year alone are worth more than 2.5 billion dollars. Our friends over at Compound
Interest pulled out the periodic table and identified dozens
of other elements that are also packed into a typical smartphone. You can’t do anything
on your phone without a battery. And that power source is most likely
a lithium-ion battery. Those batteries use lithium-cobalt oxide for the cathode or positive
side, and carbon or graphite for the negative side, called an anode. The anode produces
electrons, and the cathode absorbs them to produce the juice that powers your phone.
Some phone batteries use manganese in place of cobalt, and almost all phone batteries,
and often the entire phone, are encased in aluminum. It may just look like a piece of glass, but that smartphone screen actually contains some
of the rarest elements on earth. Very small quantities of things you’ve probably
never heard of like praesodymium, terbium, yttrium and gadolinium help produce the colors
on a smartphone’s screen. The screen itself, new for the iPhone 6, is
made of sapphire. It is the same chemical compound, aluminum oxide, in those sparkly
blue earrings and necklaces. Minor impurities in sapphire gems make them blue, but the sapphire
used in gadgets is lab-created, making it cheaper, just as tough, very pure and crystal
clear, Sapphire is harder than quartz, the core mineral
in most glass. The only thing harder than sapphire is diamond. Sapphire has been in
everything from electronics to led lighting to watches and lenses for decades, and started
appearing in high-end smartphones. If you’ve got an iPhone 5s, you’ve already got sapphire
in your pocket – it’s in the touch id fingerprint-sensing button.
Finally, a mixture of indium, tin and oxygen puts the touch in touch screen. They’re
used in a transparent film that conducts electricity so the touch screen can function.
Smash your phone open and you’ll see another hidden chemistry world. Go on, do it. We’ll
wait. Copper is used for wiring in the phone as
well as the tiny micro-electric components. Engineers also use a metal called tantalum
to make tiny capacitors. Capacitors store and regulate electricity, and can dump their
electrical charge in a fraction of a second, unlike a battery.
Of course, silicon is used to make the microchips in the phone, the brains of the whole operation.
Silicon is the most abundant element on earth other than oxygen. In the chip, it’s combined
with oxygen, antimony, arsenic, phosphorus and gallium to produce a highly-conductive,
powerful chip, which you can then use (sigh) to play Kim Kardashian Hollywood.
So there you have it. The elements that make up that thing you can’t put down. Hey while
you’ve got the phone in your hand, why not subscribe to reactions?
If you’ve got a chemistry question, leave it in the comments and check out our video
on how smartphones can actually keep you awake. So go to bed! Unless you’re watching more
of our videos. Then stay up. Thanks again to compound interest, we’ll
see you next time.

86 thoughts on “What’s in your Smartphone?”

  1. Vince Rangel says:
    September 15, 2014 at 4:07 pm

    First…

    Reply
  2. CCcrafted says:
    September 15, 2014 at 4:25 pm

    Impressive

    Reply
  3. Michel PASTOR says:
    September 15, 2014 at 5:59 pm

    More on the glass strengthening process, it's a bit more subtle than what is said in this video: How to chemically strengthen glass (eg Gorilla Glass)

    Concerning the rare earth elements, they are not as rare as their name suggest:
    "Despite their name, rare earth elements (with the exception of the radioactive promethium) are relatively plentiful in the Earth's crust" source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element

    Reply
  4. SIC66SIC66 says:
    September 15, 2014 at 6:19 pm

    I dislike how the whole world seems to think the only phone is an iPhone.

    Buy more overpriced junk and be proud of it…

    Reply
  5. Natterjak2012 says:
    September 15, 2014 at 7:02 pm

    It makes no sense to me that you only have 43k subscribers on YouTube. I hope you soon hit the first million!

    Reply
  6. Natterjak2012 says:
    September 15, 2014 at 7:12 pm

    I have an idea for you – the chemistry of cooking. Why not tell us what's really going on when we close the door on the oven, or fry onions in a skillet? Bet there's a whole lot to say on that subject.

    Reply
  7. jessicaaaturbox3 says:
    September 15, 2014 at 7:39 pm

    your videos are awesome

    Reply
  8. BobJr3rdPlays says:
    September 16, 2014 at 4:57 am

    My brain melted at the what the glass is made from.

    Reply
  9. Defcon 1 says:
    September 16, 2014 at 8:39 am

    I can't believe anyone would not know about this or I am I just a complete geek who's shirt has the periodic table on it and all the isotopes and compounds am I the only one who does that. I already know what a iPhone inside looks like and what they are composed of but nice job with teaching the common dumbass pieces of shit that are called people

    Reply
  10. Xavier Toussaint says:
    September 16, 2014 at 11:57 am

    I'm wondering where do these rare elements come from that computer companies use a lot, and also in theory how long could these phones last before the chemicals and circuits break down?

    Reply
  11. Liger-Zero says:
    September 16, 2014 at 1:17 pm

    why we can drink orange and lemon juice but not diluted acid?

    Reply
  12. wang bo says:
    September 16, 2014 at 4:12 pm

    this is not about reactions

    Reply
  13. Bobo Bobock says:
    September 16, 2014 at 5:38 pm

    What about plastic parts? What types of plastics are used in cellphones and how easy/hard are they to recycle (material recovery)? And what could be done to improve recyclability of those parts.

    Reply
  14. Bowen Huang says:
    September 16, 2014 at 8:25 pm

    Cathodes are negative anodes are positive, I think you got them the wrong way round 🙁 Or am I wrong?

    Reply
  15. s buck says:
    September 17, 2014 at 2:31 am

    Peter Griffin: Can you repeat the beginning, middle, and end part again?

    Reply
  16. J Capital M says:
    September 17, 2014 at 7:52 am

    Cool

    Reply
  17. Alex says:
    September 17, 2014 at 8:04 am

    Or play Bioshock on tge iPhone.

    Reply
  18. Hàn Thiên says:
    September 17, 2014 at 1:55 pm

    đứt cáp lag vãi :3

    Reply
  19. Mahmood Muhenned says:
    September 17, 2014 at 2:37 pm

    Just i would like to know how cpu work

    Reply
  20. patrick marsden says:
    September 17, 2014 at 6:32 pm

    Thank you for such an informative video. More people need to be aware of the rare and often toxic elements that are more times than not thrown in the landfill or 'Recycled" leaving behind tons of plastic waste, or environmental chemical pollution. Again Thank you  

    Reply
  21. trnod says:
    September 18, 2014 at 1:00 am

    iphone obviously uses resistors where they should have used capasitors… not strange why its crap 🙂

    Reply
  22. ImSoDeep says:
    September 18, 2014 at 7:33 am

    I can't stop thinking of nokias.

    Reply
  23. SuckMyDax says:
    September 19, 2014 at 3:26 am

    The files are in the phone.

    Reply
  24. Fuzz Labrador says:
    September 19, 2014 at 2:10 pm

    capacitors are not resistors, led diodes and transistors ….just letting you kids know. 

    Reply
  25. みさきめい says:
    September 21, 2014 at 7:03 am

    Hey guys, I figured out what the Iphone 7 is going to look like! Just take a picture of your existing iphone, scale it up another quarter of an inch in photoshop, and viola! Iphone 7! There I saved you another year of waiting. Your welcome

    Reply
  26. Chris Killian says:
    September 21, 2014 at 3:14 pm

    Nevermind some kid in Africa is digging this out of the ground for you.

    Reply
  27. DeXTeR says:
    September 21, 2014 at 9:21 pm

    I dont know why people buy shit from phone like iphone

    Reply
  28. chetanjasola chetan jasola says:
    September 22, 2014 at 5:36 am

    Very nice

    Reply
  29. CanCamelsCanCan says:
    September 22, 2014 at 6:47 am

    The doped silicon used in the chips is a semiconductor, and is not "highly conductive"!

    Reply
  30. Alltime says:
    September 23, 2014 at 10:43 am

    Really interesting. Thanks for sharing this. There are some pretty rare metals in there.

    Reply
  31. blastyankemonka says:
    September 26, 2014 at 3:53 am

    Could you guys make a video about the chemistry that exists when you mix mentos and coca cola? It would be awesome!

    Reply
  32. Jun Dong Koh says:
    October 9, 2014 at 3:45 pm

    Arsen what?

    Reply
  33. PoniesFIMReturned says:
    October 28, 2014 at 5:33 am

    don't forget that many of the raw materials used in an iphone is mined by congolese slaves, and then sent to chinese workers to manufacture in bad working conditions(suicide nets had to be installed to prevent suicide)!

    Reply
  34. Staticclutchgaming says:
    November 2, 2014 at 2:50 am

    Silver ?? Gold?? Goodbye iPhone

    Reply
  35. Yea Okay So What says:
    November 2, 2014 at 3:15 pm

    I got some question for u:

    Why do we need shoes

    Why is the sky blue

    How do babies see ghost

    Sorry I need to know this stuff

    Reply
  36. KB 313 says:
    December 2, 2014 at 2:33 am

    When i first saw this title i started to think about 'Whats in your wallet?' xD

    Reply
  37. Wavechaser X says:
    March 1, 2015 at 1:24 am

    Why don't you smash, no, I mean, disassemble some MacBooks (and MacBook Pro!) open and make another episode of that?

    Reply
  38. Mo A says:
    March 18, 2015 at 5:34 pm

    bugs are in your iphone.. they cause alot of crashes

    Reply
  39. SkydiverTyler says:
    April 7, 2015 at 1:46 am

    I have always loved the elements the average Joe cares less about! Praseodymium is one of my favorites xD

    Reply
  40. Bey Silentt says:
    June 8, 2015 at 4:28 pm

    I already knew this

    Reply
  41. C0d0ps says:
    July 23, 2015 at 2:45 pm

    To whoever reads this,
    I hope you have a wonderful day and no matter what stay happy as that is what matters most in life,
    You are truly amazing and no one can ever take that away from you,
    Be happy and enjoy life,
    We don't have long on earth so make the most of it,
    Have a wonderful day, Cheers, from doge in a rain coat!

    Reply
  42. DKetel says:
    July 31, 2015 at 4:57 am

    Compound Interest brought me here

    Reply
  43. Jonathan DeMarco says:
    September 29, 2015 at 1:44 am

    The image that you showed for a capacitor is incorrect your image showed a resistor

    Reply
  44. Suzie McMillan says:
    October 20, 2015 at 4:09 pm

    Would you please do a show about how uranium is mined! Thanks

    Reply
  45. Allie Eberle says:
    October 24, 2015 at 5:14 pm

    I'm watching this on an iPhone 6

    Reply
  46. john bellone says:
    December 13, 2015 at 2:28 am

    Can some cientist tell me what the chemicals are made out of

    Reply
  47. Fabian Moralea says:
    December 16, 2015 at 5:04 am

    I don't get what the hell is this gaget. what's an iPhone, what's a smart phone,what's an mp3 where the heck are this thing coming from?. they don't look so great anyway. so stop the fussing and fighting about these electronical craps.

    Reply
  48. Chrissa Efia says:
    January 4, 2016 at 8:23 pm

    When I read the title I thought "but I don't have a phone……"

    Reply
  49. Milford Cubicle says:
    January 19, 2016 at 5:00 am

    Please make preparations for a class-action lawsuit against you with regards to your suggestion to destroy my phone.

    Reply
  50. neo65305 says:
    February 15, 2016 at 7:56 pm

    sugminfetakuk

    Reply
  51. Braybro says:
    April 13, 2016 at 5:14 am

    Thanks bro for the info 👌🏼

    Reply
  52. Layth Haddad says:
    June 16, 2016 at 4:54 am

    jjjjjj

    Reply
  53. The Nether Traveller says:
    October 4, 2016 at 7:49 pm

    breaking my phone was not worth it.

    Reply
  54. cupol8000 blixar says:
    October 19, 2016 at 11:24 pm

    how are we gonna sub and like if we broke are phones

    Reply
  55. Sri Vallabha vaidya says:
    November 15, 2016 at 4:40 pm

    I must say, u guys are really awsom!! this, was my 1st vedio, u said exactly, wt i actually wanted to know abt …!!

    Reply
  56. DoMiNaTeOLDErWoMeN says:
    December 24, 2016 at 3:49 pm

    10/10

    Reply
  57. A Pink Cat :3 says:
    January 29, 2017 at 2:54 am

    I subbed 😀 im learning how my phones are and ima keep the gold and silver secret before my parents cash in my 1st phone

    Reply
  58. ZEAZ Daniel says:
    March 28, 2017 at 5:13 am

    i already broke my phone destroyed and i still have it

    Reply
  59. Home Wild says:
    September 15, 2017 at 9:10 pm

    indium is my fave element

    Reply
  60. geek chennel says:
    November 16, 2017 at 5:25 am

    😈

    Reply
  61. MrPlaystation3system says:
    December 9, 2017 at 6:35 pm

    I JAST SUB TO Reactions TOO

    Reply
  62. FoofPoof says:
    December 26, 2017 at 9:48 pm

    This video is fucking bad. I came here to know what’s in a phone, but he shows a ton of elements I don’t give a shit about. misleading title

    Reply
  63. sahbre says:
    January 22, 2018 at 3:14 pm

    I am using a computer, not a phone, I will not subscribe, you just assumed my device witch is unacceptable

    Reply
  64. Искатель Истины says:
    February 13, 2018 at 5:19 am

    Dislike for MG!

    Reply
  65. Pi says:
    February 19, 2018 at 1:16 am

    Phones and smarts

    Reply
  66. Mr Ramdom says:
    April 15, 2018 at 4:49 pm

    6?

    Reply
  67. Super nova says:
    April 16, 2018 at 8:36 am

    We finnaly know wat iphone 6 looks liek U MEEN WE FINNALY KNOW WHAT IPHONE 11 LOOKS LIEK M9! and samsung zero

    Reply
  68. Rain.y says:
    May 16, 2018 at 6:46 pm

    i'm only here because of my computer literacy teacher

    Reply
  69. Constantinople, 1054 says:
    June 1, 2018 at 10:57 pm

    Ok so I smashed my phone. The first surface layer is dead. The layer behind that also has a hole in it. Do they replace that layer when they replace your screen? Or should I just get a new phone?

    Reply
  70. You Need Jesus says:
    July 24, 2018 at 1:50 am

    Garbage!! The aliens give us the crappy technology, and keep the good shit for themselves.

    Reply
  71. Josh Kennedy says:
    August 5, 2018 at 6:19 pm

    could you please explain what makes the tiny plastic pins that form the braille dots in my new Orbit Reader20 low-cost refreshable braille display gadget, how does that work? Please take apart an orbit reader20 and show how that works. thanks. just google search Orbit Reader20 braille display. The older expensive displays use piezoelectric crystals with plastic pins attached to small fragile rods to lift a pin above the faceplate. But Orbit Reader20 uses something different and much more reliable. Please explain what this is and why Orbit Reader 20 braille cells are so low-cost.

    Reply
  72. Murdock Clam says:
    November 23, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    is this mkbhd ?????

    Reply
  73. UA10 says:
    January 6, 2019 at 5:58 am

    ซื้อ iphone 6 = ไม่ได้ who are the ควาย of the world

    Reply
  74. UA10 says:
    January 6, 2019 at 5:58 am

    ไม่เชื่อ we are the ควาย in the phone

    Reply
  75. Elmo Armijo says:
    January 7, 2019 at 3:26 am

    When you are sampling capacitors why did you show a diod, resistor and transistor in the picture?

    Reply
  76. SuperN0va says:
    February 24, 2019 at 6:48 pm

    whats in your smartphone?

    Games, youtube, photos, and apps

    Reply
  77. YAHWEH 2 HOLYGHOST says:
    March 6, 2019 at 4:07 pm

    Who's watching in 2019

    Reply
  78. Lemon Maid says:
    April 6, 2019 at 12:41 pm

    A brain

    Reply
  79. Tech Saber says:
    April 9, 2019 at 2:29 am

    Talks about super complicated elements and chemical procedures
    Calls the inside of the phone “the guts” and moves on

    Reply
  80. Michael Vince says:
    April 11, 2019 at 3:14 pm

    What course or degree do I need to take on college if I want to become a smartphone creator or designer??

    Reply
  81. SmashTelevision says:
    May 25, 2019 at 12:13 am

    Nahh get androids

    Reply
  82. INDIAN RAILWAYS GAMER says:
    June 10, 2019 at 9:08 am

    Can anyone explain me the
    reason behind the action which is happening in the smartphone in this video-
    https://youtu.be/fsXIW48M6cE

    Reply
  83. theaccountwitha really long name says:
    June 22, 2019 at 11:00 pm

    Yep

    Reply
  84. Tommy Carson says:
    July 22, 2019 at 12:17 pm

    How rubberized pplycarbonate made?

    Reply
  85. SMITHA PP says:
    July 22, 2019 at 5:21 pm

    What is the composition of lcd screen

    Reply
  86. Zach Rider says:
    August 23, 2019 at 8:22 pm

    Who actually smashed they phone😭😭😭

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • 5 COOL GADGETS & tech deals for Christmas 2019!
  • FOOTBALL: Virginia Tech – Player Post
  • Sheboygan County-based Airehide uses technology to make new kind of dog toy
  • TV Repair Shop Owners Making A Go Of It, Even As Technology Passes Them By
  • Our Dream White Christmas in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland | Santa Claus Village
  • 10 Reasons You Should Start a YouTube Channel in 2019
  • Life of Indian Students in Canada’s Best Universities | UBC Campus Tour
  • US jobs growth beats expectations in November
  • Arise: A Simple Story – Launch Trailer | PS4
  • Uber releases startling new safety report

Recent Comments

  • That Scottish Couple on Our Dream White Christmas in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland | Santa Claus Village
  • Simon Djeno on Our Dream White Christmas in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland | Santa Claus Village
  • Hannah & Leon Vlogs on Our Dream White Christmas in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland | Santa Claus Village
  • The Most Wanted Travel on Our Dream White Christmas in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland | Santa Claus Village
  • hermione lee on Our Dream White Christmas in Rovaniemi, Finnish Lapland | Santa Claus Village

Tags

and android apple breaking news Business china current events donald trump education facebook for Fox News Fox News Channel funny google Health how to money news politics president trump review science tech tech news technology TED TED Talk TED Talks that the this top stories travel trump USA us news video White House World World News you your YouTube yt:cc=on
©2019 Canada Windsor | Powered by WordPress & Superb Themes