When taking a look at our phones, we usually associate the advancements and technology with engineering and coding, however, our phones actually rely on chemistry more than we think.
In reality, smartphones are composed of 70 stable elements and many of these phones usually contain more than 62 different kinds of metals. In fact, rare-earth elements are otherwise known as “technology metals” due to their use in smartphones and other electronic devices. These rare-earth elements give our screen displays their bright red, blue, and green colors, and allow for the vibrations when you get a notification. Additionally, all but one of the rare-earth metals are found on the typical iphone due to the radioactivity of promethium ( the only missing rare-earth metal).
Not only is the composition of the phone itself very chemically involves, but the entire reason touch screens work, as well. The glass used for modern phones is extremely tough and the discovery of this kind of glass was unintentional. A chemist at a glass company was heating glass in a furnace with a broken thermostat that showed a temperature of 600 degrees celsius when, in reality, the glass had been heated to 900 degrees celsius. As the chemist removed the glass from the furnace, he accidentally dropped the piece of glass and to his surprise instead of the glass shattering, it bounced right back up! This kind of glass differs from most solids, it is a combination of glass and ceramic and is, therefore, categorized as an amorphous solid. Unlike other solids, this glass doesn’t have the typical crystalline structure. Instead, the molecules in an amorphous solid have the molecular arrangement of a liquid, yet somehow remain frozen in place. The structure of ceramic and glass alone is not strong, but when combined, they form a structure so resistant that it has been dubbed “Gorilla Glass”. This Gorilla Glass was tested and it proved to be able to support up to 100,000 lbs of pressure per inch.
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Additionally, the touchscreen chemistry doesn’t stop there. Essentially, there are 2 categories of touchscreens. There are the resistive touchscreens and the capacitive touchscreens.
Resistive touchscreens work differently than our typical phone screens. As many of us may know, not any touch gets a response from the typical iphone screen. In the winter, we have to go through the annoying process of removing our gloves to press certain apps or make a phone call. This is, however, not the case with resistive touchscreens. These are the kind of touchscreens that you find at the aggie print station or your local supermarket. These kinds of screens are made of two thin conductive layers under the glass or film. When an item or a finger presses on the surface of these screens, the two thin layers touch thus completing a circuit and altering the electrical current. The programming in these devices cause the system to recognize the touch as an action. These types of screens are a little older and can only register one action being pressed at a time.
