This week I spent some time learning about rare earths, which have very obscure element names but are ubiquitous. All their names end with the same few letters which seemed like it might lend itself nicely to computational manipulation.
I wanted to play with the scientific taxonomy and naming conventions of these strange elements, the weirdness of their rarity, and their displacement. Like my last poem, I wanted to use space on the page/screen as a way to see this. Playing with spaces and elemental numbers didn’t work as well as I’d liked this time.
The source text is all 17 of the earth metals plus 17 products made of these elements I assembled from the internet.
Telescope lenetium Lutetium Dysprosium Promethium Nuclear control rodsetium Pacemakersetium Scandium Cerium Europium Aircraft enginesetium Ytterbium Automotive Lutexhaust systemsetium Yttrium Superconductorsetium Pulsed lasersetium Thulium Praseodymium X-raysetium Erbium Lanthanum Camera lenetium Holmium Neodymium Electrodesetium Magnetsetium Surgical suppliesetium Gadolinium Televisionsetium Optical glasetium Samarium Computer disksetium etium Terbium Headphonesetium Fluorescent lampsetium