From Rocks to Metals: The Metallurgy Process

Your phone contains metals that were once just dirty rocks, separated using

bubbles and oil. This whole wild process is called metallurgy. First,

they take giant ore rocks and crush them into a fine powder. Then,

they use a method called froth flotation, mixing the powder with water and pine oil.

When they blow air through it, the metal particles stick to the oily bubbles and float

to the top, while the useless rock sinks. After collecting the froth,

they melt it at insane temperatures to finally isolate the pure metal. From a rock,

to an oily froth, to the device in your hand.