Acidithiobacillus

Acidithiobacillus is a type of tiny living thing that really likes to live in really acidic environments. These tiny little things are called bacteria and they can be found in some very unusual places that wouldn't be very hospitable to most other kinds of living things.

You know how vinegar tastes sour? That's because vinegar is very acidic, and acidithiobacillus loves that level of acidity! It turns out that these little bacteria are actually quite useful to us humans, because they can help us do some things like getting metals out of rocks.

See, some metals like copper or gold are trapped inside rocks, and we need them for things like building computers or making jewelry. But it's pretty difficult (and expensive) to just dig up rocks and get the metal out. Acidithiobacillus is really good at dissolving the rock and releasing the metal into the water around it. Then, we can collect that metal and use it for all sorts of things.

So even though acidithiobacillus might seem like a strange, little creature, it's actually really helpful to us humans in a way, especially when we're trying to get metals out of rocks.