A Few Facts About Gold

Gold is a chemical Element. It cannot be synthesized, it is conductive, ductile, and un-reactive with most chemicals. It is a rare element, it is said that all the gold mined in the world would fit into two olympic sized swimming pools. The yellow metal is virtually inert, this is why the funeral face mask of King Tutankhamen lasted in the desert sands of Egypt for thousands of years. It is a dense but soft metal, at 19.32 grams per cubic centimeter, almost twenty times heavier than water. A one tonne cube of gold would only be 37.26cm along each edge.

Because gold is so heavy and so compact, it can be stored in small places, providing very good "wealth density". Gold prices are traditionally quoted in troy ounces (see top right), which are heavier than an ordinary ounce. There are 12 troy ounces in one troy pound of gold as compared to 16 regular ounces in a regular pound. Gold purity is measured in carats, which expresses the amount of pure gold in the item. Pure 100% gold is 24 carats. All gold jewellery in the United States must be marked with the karat grade.

Though there are few uses for gold in an industrial applications, gold is used in electronics, dental work, and some chemical uses. In a way when you buy gold fillings for your teeth, you are making an investment. Dental gold is usually of a high purity, 16 carrats. Because Gold is so soft, it is alloyed with other metals to harden it so it can be used for more physically demanding applications. Without alloying gold, even decorative uses such as jewellery would be difficult.

Gold has been used for thousands of years as a way to show and store material wealth around the world. Ancient cultures such as the Romans regarded gold as precious and used it in jewellery that has lasted to this day. Roman gold coins, and other items are regularly found on archeological digs. Becuase it is so valuable and nearly always recycled, even today when you buy gold jewellery you may well be wearing gold, some of which was mined thousands of years ago.

As a matter of fact, the jewellery trade has done a great deal for promoting gold as a material value store, and so far it has not been rivalled by any other material when it comes to security commodity. Gold bullion has been a form of money for centuries and it is still looked upon as a viable wealth store even today.

Article Published On: 10 May 2009
Article Revised On: 4 May 2012

Disclaimer
The above article is for information purposes only, and is not advice. Its accuracy cannot be guaranteed and no responsibility for errors or omissions can be accepted by the website owners.

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A Few Facts About Gold

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