The Future of Education

Dysprosium, which is the 66^th element in the periodic table, is an element found on the outer surface of the disks in a HDD (Hard disk drive.) HDDs are found in almost every electronic device we use today, and in time these devices become old, and thrown away. Through some steps, this dysprosium can be recycled and used again in industry. By shredding a disk into smaller pieces and putting them into hydrochloric acid (HCl) and sulfuric acid (H₂SO₄) solutions, each with different molarities, we were able to identify which solution with a specific molarity was able to unravel most dysprosium. UV Light Spectrophotometer was used in order to specify Dy⁺³ ions.  The amount of Dy⁺³ ions, which refers to recycled dysprosium, was greatest in 2M HCl solutions. Taking all these facts into consideration, instead of throwing HDDs away, recyclable parts can be regained, such as dysprosium, and can be reused in other industrial areas. Dysprosium is also used in wind turbines which means dysprosium is used in clean energy industry. Since the demand towards the clean energy is increasing day by day, dysprosium's importance is also increasing.