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What’s a smartphone made of? - Kim Preshoff

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130,942 Questions Answered

TEDEd Animation

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As of 2018, there are around 2.5 billion smartphone users in the world. If we broke open all the newest phones and split them into their component parts, that would produce around 85,000 kg of gold, 875,000 of silver, and 40,000,000 of copper. How did this precious cache get into our phones--and can we reclaim it? Kim Preshoff investigates the sustainability of phone production.

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TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Kim Preshoff
  • Director Dmitry Yagodin
  • Narrator Susan Zimmerman
  • Art Director Dmitry Yagodin
  • Animator Dmitry Yagodin
  • Designer Dmitry Yagodin
  • Producer Vessela Dantcheva
  • Composer Samuel Pocreau
  • Sound Designer Samuel Pocreau
  • Content Producer Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Associate Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Script Editor Emma Bryce
  • Fact-Checker Francisco Diez

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