Have you heard about the recent crime wave involving cars? Thieves are targeting a specific car part called the catalytic converter. This part can be stolen in just a minute, leaving car owners feeling violated. But why are these parts so valuable? Let’s dive into the story behind this trend.
Back in the 1970s, air pollution was a big problem. Cities were covered in smog, and people were getting sick. To tackle this, the U.S. introduced environmental laws like the Clean Air Act. One of the most important inventions from this time was the catalytic converter.
A catalytic converter is a device in your car’s exhaust system. It transforms harmful chemicals from the engine into less harmful gases, helping to reduce pollution. While car exhaust still affects global warming, catalytic converters have significantly reduced smog.
Recently, catalytic converter thefts have skyrocketed by almost 4000% since 2018. The reason? The valuable metals inside them. These small components contain platinum, palladium, and rhodium, which are worth a lot of money.
Rhodium, in particular, is extremely valuable. Just a few grams of it can be worth nearly $1,000. To give you an idea, a kilogram of gold is worth about $57,000, but the same amount of rhodium is worth over half a million dollars!
Why do we need such expensive metals in catalytic converters? It’s all about chemistry. Rhodium is resistant to heat and corrosion, making it perfect for the harsh conditions inside a car’s exhaust system. It acts as a catalyst, speeding up chemical reactions that turn harmful gases into harmless ones.
For example, rhodium helps convert nitrogen oxides, which can harm the ozone layer, into harmless nitrogen and oxygen gases. This process happens repeatedly as long as the converter is intact.
Rhodium is rare because of how elements are formed. Elements are made of protons and neutrons, and the number of protons determines the element. Neutrons help hold the nucleus together, acting like atomic glue.
Creating elements requires a lot of energy, which was abundant just after the Big Bang. This event created the lightest elements like hydrogen and helium. Heavier elements, like rhodium, are formed in stars through fusion reactions.
Stars can only make elements up to iron. Heavier elements are created in supernovae or when neutron stars collide, releasing a burst of energy that allows for the formation of these rare elements.
Scientists believe that most heavy metals, including rhodium, are formed in these cosmic events. However, these processes are rare and spread out across the universe, making these elements scarce.
This scarcity is why catalytic converters are targeted by thieves. The universe is vast, and the conditions needed to create rhodium are rare, making it a valuable commodity.
As car technology evolves, we may not need catalytic converters filled with expensive metals. But for now, the universe’s influence on the availability of these metals is driving this crime wave.
Stay curious and keep learning about the fascinating world around us!
Here’s a joke for you: A neutron walks into a bar and says, “Hey, how much for a drink?” The bartender replies, “For you, no charge.”
Research the history and function of catalytic converters. Create a presentation to explain how they work and their importance in reducing air pollution. Use diagrams and images to make your presentation engaging.
In groups, create a role-playing game where you are detectives solving a catalytic converter theft case. Develop characters, motives, and clues. Present your case to the class and see if they can solve the mystery!
Conduct a simple experiment to understand catalytic reactions. Use household items to demonstrate how catalysts speed up chemical reactions. Document your findings and explain how this relates to catalytic converters.
Participate in a debate about the future of car technology. Discuss whether electric vehicles will eliminate the need for catalytic converters and the impact on the environment. Prepare arguments for both sides.
Write a short story from the perspective of a catalytic converter. Describe your journey from creation to installation in a car, and the challenges you face with potential theft. Share your story with the class.
Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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There’s a crime wave sweeping the world right now. – [Newsreader] The troubling trend targeting a key car component. – [Newsreader 2] Thieves are targeting cars for their catalytic converters. These thefts can take just minutes to carry out. A thief can remove one from your car in 60 seconds or less. You feel violated. – [Joe] The thieves are on the hunt for something that fetches big bucks on the black market. – [Newsreader 3] A nearly $7 million theft ring. – [Newsreader 4] They want the valuable metals inside the converters. – [Interviewee] This is a very quick way for them to make money. – [Joe] Numbers are skyrocketing, and public officials are scrambling for answers. We’re trending in the wrong direction, and people are getting tired of it. This is a growing problem; there’s no excuse for it.
Turns out we can blame it all on this: (stars whirring) (curious music) Hey smart people, Joe here. So back in the ’70s, air pollution was a major issue. Many U.S. cities were blanketed in smog, and people were getting sick, with warnings about acid rain. One of the big culprits was car exhaust. So the U.S. passed significant environmental laws like the Clean Air Act, which led to one of the most monumental innovations in cleaning up the way we drive: the catalytic converter.
A catalytic converter is an extra chamber along your car’s exhaust pipe. This device takes dangerous chemicals and engine exhaust and transforms them into relatively harmless gases that are better for the environment and public health. While car exhaust still contributes to global warming, this innovation helped address the smog issue.
However, in recent years, catalytic converters have become one of the most stolen items from cars. Thefts have risen almost 4000% since 2018, and numbers are still on the rise, primarily due to the valuable materials inside. That small component on your exhaust that you might have never looked at is a treasure chest full of valuable metals: platinum, palladium, and rhodium, the most expensive metal on Earth.
But why do we need such expensive metals in something that cleans car emissions? The unique chemistry inside a catalytic converter is the reason. Rhodium is resistant to oxidation, corrosion, and heat, allowing it to withstand the conditions inside your car’s exhaust system. It also acts as a catalyst, speeding up certain chemical reactions.
For example, burning gasoline creates harmful chemicals like nitrogen oxides, which can damage the ozone layer and contribute to acid rain. The rhodium in a catalytic converter transforms these harmful substances into harmless nitrogen and oxygen gas, doing this repeatedly as long as it remains intact.
A catalytic converter contains a couple of grams of rhodium, which has a street value of almost $1,000. To put this in perspective, a one-kilogram bar of gold is worth around $57,000, but that same amount of rhodium would be worth more than half a million dollars.
So why is rhodium so expensive? When we look at rhodium and its neighbors on the periodic table, we find many elements that are extremely rare in Earth’s crust. If we represent all the elements in Earth’s crust with a roll of toilet paper stretching from here to London, rhodium would make up just a tiny fraction.
To understand why these precious metals are so rare, we need to discuss how elements are made. Each box on the periodic table represents one element, determined by the number of protons it has. For example, one proton is hydrogen, two protons are helium, and so on. Protons are positively charged, and like charges repel each other. So why doesn’t that repulsion cause a nucleus to fall apart?
There’s another fundamental force at play inside a nucleus: the nuclear force. You can think of it as a type of “Velcro” that only works when protons or neutrons are pushed very close together. Atoms contain both protons and neutrons. Neutrons also have this nuclear force but are uncharged, so they don’t repel other particles. They act like atomic glue, helping to hold a nucleus together.
Adding or subtracting neutrons can change an atom’s mass but not its element type. It’s only when we add or take away protons, along with enough neutrons to keep the nucleus stable, that we create a new chemical element.
To get protons and neutrons close enough together for the nuclear force to work requires a lot of heat and energy, which we find in special places and times. The hot, dense universe that existed just after the Big Bang created the perfect conditions to combine protons and neutrons, forming the lightest and most abundant elements on the periodic table, like hydrogen and helium.
However, creating heavier elements requires more energy. The Big Bang only happened once, 13.8 billion years ago, and its energy has been spreading out as the universe expands. So where can we find enough energy to combine nuclei? The fusion reactions in stars turn lighter elements into heavier ones by smashing nuclei together.
For example, two hydrogen atoms make one helium atom, and so on. But as we move down the periodic table, creating these heavier elements becomes more challenging. Iron is the heaviest element that can be made in a star.
What about the rest of the periodic table? Everything after uranium was made by humans, but we still need a way to create these elements. One method is by adding neutrons to a nucleus. Neutrons don’t have a charge, so it takes less energy to add them, but this can make a nucleus unstable.
Sometimes, a neutron captured by a nucleus can decay into a proton, creating a new element. This process of adding neutrons to create new elements is how most elements on the periodic table are formed.
However, finding large amounts of free neutrons to add to nuclei is a challenge. One source is dying low-mass stars, which have lots of free neutrons. These stars can slowly create heavier elements over billions of years.
Another source is supernovae, the explosive end of massive stars, which release a large number of free neutrons. In the immense energy of a supernova explosion, many neutrons can be added to a nucleus at once, leading to the rapid creation of heavy elements.
We used to think supernovae were the only place where this rapid neutron capture could happen, but we now know that merging neutron stars can also create heavy elements. The light from one merger confirmed that heavy elements like gold do form during these events.
Is this process true for rhodium too? Scientists believe that colliding neutron stars could be where most of the heavy metals on the periodic table are born, but much about these processes remains unknown. Rhodium and some of its rare neighbors likely form in other ways as well.
In a universe that has experienced several generations of dying stars over nearly 14 billion years, these explosive atomic nurseries are rare and spread out. Elements formed in these processes are about a million times scarcer than elements like carbon and oxygen.
That’s why this crime wave is happening and why people are stealing catalytic converters from cars. There’s simply not much rhodium available because the universe is vast. The merging of neutron stars and the heavy metals they produce is like putting a drop of ink in the ocean.
The cloud of stellar dust that formed our solar system and Earth was like taking a bucket of that ocean and creating a world from it. Perhaps in the future, as car technology evolves, catalytic converters filled with expensive substances won’t be necessary, but for now, this is a crime wave influenced by the universe.
Stay curious.
And one more thing, history lovers, we need to tell you about a brand new series from PBS called “The Bigger Picture.” Hosted by Harvard professor Vincent Brown, it examines famous photographs and unpacks the historical context and stories behind them. Their latest episode discusses “The Blue Marble,” one of the most iconic images of Earth ever captured. You can check out that episode and the first episode at the link in the description and be sure to tell them “Be Smart” sent you.
A neutron walks into a bar and says, “Hey, how much for a drink?” The bartender says, “For you, no charge.”
Why is this so hard to cut? (crew member laughs) This is so hard to cut.
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This version removes any explicit or sensitive content while maintaining the overall message and context of the original transcript.
Catalytic – Relating to or involving the action of a catalyst, which is a substance that increases the rate of a chemical reaction without itself undergoing any permanent chemical change. – Catalytic converters in cars help reduce harmful emissions by speeding up chemical reactions that convert pollutants into less harmful substances.
Converter – A device that changes something from one form to another, often used in the context of energy or chemical processes. – The catalytic converter in a vehicle transforms toxic gases from the engine into less harmful emissions before they are released into the atmosphere.
Rhodium – A rare, silvery-white metallic element that is highly reflective and resistant to corrosion, often used in catalytic converters. – Rhodium is one of the key metals used in catalytic converters to reduce vehicle emissions.
Platinum – A dense, malleable, and highly unreactive precious metal, often used as a catalyst in chemical reactions. – Platinum is commonly used in catalytic converters to help convert harmful gases into less harmful emissions.
Palladium – A rare and lustrous silvery-white metal that is used in catalytic converters and various chemical reactions. – Palladium is an essential component in catalytic converters, helping to reduce the pollution emitted by cars.
Chemistry – The branch of science that studies the composition, structure, properties, and change of matter. – In chemistry class, students learn about the periodic table and how different elements interact with each other.
Pollution – The presence or introduction of harmful or poisonous substances into the environment. – Reducing air pollution is one of the main reasons for using catalytic converters in vehicles.
Elements – Substances that consist of only one type of atom and cannot be broken down into simpler substances by chemical means. – The periodic table organizes all known elements based on their atomic number and properties.
Universe – All existing matter and space considered as a whole; the cosmos. – Scientists study the universe to understand the origins of elements and the forces that govern their interactions.
Energy – The capacity to do work or produce change, existing in various forms such as kinetic, potential, thermal, and chemical. – In chemical reactions, energy is often absorbed or released, leading to changes in temperature or the formation of new substances.
