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Shock for purists. End of touchscreens era.
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Indium is the principal component in indium tin oxide (ITO). ITO has unique qualities that make it unique. It is a rare example of a material that is both electrically conducting and optically transparent, which means it does not absorb photons of light.

    ITO changed the way touchscreen works. The common methods, prior to ITO, were to use infrared LEDs ranged around the screen to fire beams that are blocked by a touch, but those were bulky and required a lot of power to run; or to use a stylus and two layers of ITO separated by a slight gap. Tapping this resistive screen with the stylus brought the two layers together, allowing a current to pass. New touchscreen devices utilize the fact that your finger is conductive to do away with the stylus. Touching the screen changes its capacitance at that location, a change picked up by a single layer of ITO.

    The US Geological Survey estimates that known reserves of indium worldwide amount to 16,000 tons (63% in China).
    At the current rate of consumption, those reserves will be exhausted by 2020.

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    Armin Reller, a materials chemist at the University of Augsburg in Germany, estimates that in 10 years the world will run out of indium, used for making liquid-crystal displays for flat-screen televisions and computer monitors. He also predicts that the world will run out of zinc by 2037, and hafnium, an increasingly important part of computer chips, by 2017.

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  • 9 Replies sorted by
  • zcreamzcream

    You'll find reserves under Siberia and Antarctica soon.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    You'll find reserves under Siberia and Antarctica soon.

    It does not matter. Any of such reserves (and they exist only in imagination for now) will have very bad parameters (huge cost, difficulties with transport, etc).

    You can go back in the blog to find tons of arguments.

  • bumsklumpenbumsklumpen

    bye bye shitty touchscreens, hope it's real.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    bye bye shitty touchscreens, hope it's real.

    I am sad to inform you that touchscreen will be your smallest problem :-) Biggest will be to find something to eat.

  • bumsklumpenbumsklumpen

    alright, i want more touchscreens then.

  • PsycoPsyco

    I think they will start mining....

    ...waste dumps.

    Pros: near by, easy access, high concentration of minearals and metalls.

    Cons: toxic as hell.

    I mean, how many touchscreens does one person need? So, how much Indium does one person need * how many people use touchscreens = ammount of Indium needed (and I think there is enough Indium on this planet, just not enough for throwing it away every second year for a new gadget with new features nobody needs).

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    ...waste dumps.

    problems is as far as I checked it is exactly zero percent of indium that comes from recycling. problem is that cost of such "mining" is huge.

    I mean, how many touchscreens does one person need? So, how much Indium does one person need * how many people use touchscreens = ammount of Indium needed (and I think there is enough Indium on this planet, just not enough for throwing it away every second year for a new gadget with new features nobody needs).

    It does not matter how much someone want, you can't change primitive animals aka Homo Sapiens, only thing that matters that resource come to an end.

  • dancerchrisdancerchris

    The cost of indium will go up long before the supply is exhausted. Likely a new technology that will allow other materials to work, gallium and thallium are chemically similar and most likely replacement tech will be first along these lines. It is sad when an element becomes extremely scarce, and we essentially increase the entropy of those materials by spreading it out into consumer junk. Not much you can do about it but slow the pace.

    A material that most don't recognize as rare that is being depleted rapidly is helium. Goodbye party balloons.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    The cost of indium will go up long before the supply is exhausted. Likely a new technology that will allow other materials to work, gallium and thallium are chemically similar and most likely replacement tech will be first along these lines.

    Let's just dissect this into number of myths.

    Myth number one. Cost will always go up and increase in price will be used to mine more scarce mining areas. Unfortunately it works only in narrow boundaries. As soon as price becomes too big negative feedback starts. Products become too pricey, so demand drops and instead of price increase you see dropping demand. ANd price that is still not enough :-)

    Myth number two. Religious belief in might of science. Most probably no replacement will be found in time, despite very loud declarations (as this declarations is made by young startups who are seeking financing).

    It is sad when an element becomes extremely scarce, and we essentially increase the entropy of those materials by spreading it out into consumer junk.

    And this is common for almost all resources that advanced monkeys are making extinct. As soon you understand monkeys nature all comes in place.

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