Facts about Gold
Mints in the United States use a process called electrolysis, which produces nearly pure gold.
Native gold usually contains 8–10 percent silver, but often much more.
No commercially viable mechanism for extracting gold from seawater has yet been identified.
Colloidal solutions (suspensions of tiny gold particles) are intensely colored and often purple.
Gold ions in solution are readily precipitated out as gold metal by the addition of virtually any other metal to the solution.
Given its historically high value, gold has been the object of thieves and conquerors for thousands of years.
Native Americans of the Sioux tribe called gold "the yellow metal that makes the white man crazy."
The Second Boer War of 1899–1901, between the British Empire and the white Boers, was at least partly over the rights of miners and possession of the gold wealth in South Africa.
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs), such as gold bullion securities, are sponsored by the World Gold Council and are fully backed by allocated gold held by a custodian.
Later, various techniques were developed to extract gold from the rocky vein or mother lode.
Given its high electrical conductivity, resistance to corrosion, and other properties, gold emerged in the late twentieth century as an essential industrial metal.
In 1970 South Africa's production of gold, about 1,000 tons, was 79 percent of the global total.
By August 2005, the U.S. M3 money supply had risen to $9,873.9 billion, while the Official Gold Holdings had fallen to just 8,133.5 tons, or about 261 million troy ounces.
The purity of a gold bar may also be expressed as a decimal figure ranging from 0 to 1, known as the millesimal fineness.
Historically, gold was used to back currency in an economic system called the gold standard, in which one unit of currency was equivalent to a certain weight of gold.
According to some estimates, all the gold in the world that has ever been refined would form a single cube 20 meters (66 ft) on each side.
Gold and its compounds now have a wide range of applications, a number of which are listed below.
The gold ions are said to be reduced, while the added metal is said to be oxidized.
Within the United States, the private possession of gold except as jewelry and coin collecting was banned between 1933 and 1975.
A person who is particularly kind-hearted and generous is said to have a "heart of gold."
Alchemists, who regarded gold as the king of metals, searched in vain for the philosopher's stone that was expected to convert lead or mercury into gold.
The world's oceans hold a vast amount of gold, but at very low concentrations (perhaps 1-2 parts per billion).
Gold does, however, react with halogens—such as chlorine, bromine, and iodine—to form compounds such as gold (III) chloride (auric chloride, AuCl3), gold (III) bromide (auric bromide, AuBr3), and gold (I) iodide (aurous iodide, AuI).
Later, Christian kings wore golden crowns to symbolize their divinely inspired authority.
Recent research shows that microbes may also play a role in transporting and precipitating gold to form grains and nuggets that collect in alluvial deposits.
The price of gold is determined on the open market, but a procedure known as the Gold Fixing in London, originating in 1919, provides a twice-daily benchmark figure to the industry.
Wedding rings are traditionally made of gold, as a metaphor for the commitment of undying love between partners in marriage.
Ore grades of 30 g/1000 kg (30 ppm) are usually needed before gold is visible to the naked eye.
The New Testament records that gold was one of the gifts offered by the three magi who visited the newborn Jesus.
The Siberian regions of Russia used to be significant in the global gold mining industry.
Interestingly, however, modern science has shown that it is feasible to generate minuscule amounts of gold by artificial nuclear transformations in particle accelerators.
Gold extracted by the above methods is often alloyed with silver and other metals, and it needs to be refined.
Mines in South Dakota and Nevada supply two-thirds of the gold used in the United States.
Given its relative chemical inertness, gold usually occurs as the native metal or as an alloy with silver and other precious metals.
Many of them believe, or even hope, that one day gold's importance will return as the printing of paper money gets out of control and we end in a hyper-inflationary fiat money collapse.
The tombs of the Egyptian pharaohs were filled with items made of, or plated with, gold.
Heat, moisture, oxygen, and most chemical reagents have very little chemical effect on gold.
The downside of gold extraction methods is that if they are not performed with extreme care, they can have harmful effects on the environment.
Kings have chosen to wear golden crowns, and couples have expressed their undying love with gold wedding rings.
The eminent orator John Chrysostom was said to have a "mouth of gold with a silver tongue."
Iron pyrite (FeS2), with its metallic luster and yellowish color, has been called fool's gold; but it may contain small amounts of actual gold.
The theoretical price should then have been $518 per ounce, but the actual price (fixed under the gold standard) was only $35 per ounce.
Gold medals and decorations are often used to honor those who have made great contributions to society or have won great competitions.
Chemists have demonstrated the futility of the alchemist's dream of producing gold from other substances via chemical reactions.
During the nineteenth century, gold rushes occurred whenever large gold deposits were discovered.
Pure gold is given the value 24 carats, and lower ratings correspond to proportionally less gold.
On the other hand, hearkening back to the time of Moses, worshipping the Golden Calf has become a symbol of idolatry and revolt against God.
The largest gold depository in the world is that of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in New York.
The product is likely to be one or more radioactive isotopes of gold.
Scientists theorize that the gold on our planet was first formed in an ancient star shortly before it exploded as a supernova.
Gold fields in the Orange Free State and the Transvaal are deep and require the world's deepest mines.
Exploitation is said to date from the time of Midas, and this gold was important in the establishment of what was probably the world's earliest coinage in Lydia between 643 and 630 B.C.E.
When alloyed with other metals, the term carat (karat) is used to indicate the proportion of gold present.
The primary deposits are weathered and eroded, with most of the gold being transported into stream beds where it congregates with other heavy minerals to form what are called alluvial deposits or placer deposits.
Under extreme conditions, gold can combine with fluorine to produce gold(V) fluoride (AuF5).
On the other hand, liver and kidney damage has been reported for up to 50 percent of arthritis patients treated with gold-containing drugs.
The European conquest of South and Central America was fueled in no small part by reports of the gold ornaments displayed in great profusion by Native American peoples, especially in Mexico, Peru, and Colombia.
Gold (chemical symbol Au; atomic number 79) has long been valued as a noble metal and a symbol of purity, durability, and royalty.
A single ounce (troy ounce) of gold can be beaten into a sheet of area 300 square feet or drawn into a wire that extends more than 40 miles.
Gold is described in Egyptian hieroglyphs dating back to 2600 B.C.E., and it is mentioned several times in the Hebrew scriptures.
Gold becomes particularly desirable in times of extremely weak confidence and during hyperinflation because it maintains its value even as fiat money becomes worthless.
Unusually for a metal, gold can also form compounds in which its oxidation number is -1.
Ancient Egypt and Nubia had the resources to make them major gold-producing areas.
Central banks still hold historical gold reserves as assets, although these levels have generally been declining.
Their symbol for gold was the circle with a point at its center (?), which was also the astrological symbol, the Egyptian hieroglyph, and the ancient Chinese character for the Sun (now ?).
Gold and its many alloys are most often used in jewelry and coinage, and as a standard for monetary exchange in many countries.
Pure gold is too soft for ordinary use and is hardened by alloying with silver, copper, and other metals.
Hydrothermal synthetic emeralds have been attributed to IG-Farben, Nacken, Chatham, and others, but the first satisfactory commercial product was that of Johann Lechleitner of Inbruck, Austria.
Alloys of gold are often prepared to increase its strength or create a range of exotic colors.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt expropriated gold by Executive Order 6102, and President Richard Nixon closed the gold window by which foreign countries could exchange American dollars for gold at a fixed rate.
Two much rarer metals often fly under the radar: platinum and its close cousin, palladium. Platinum is much rarer than both gold and silver — so rare, in fact, that all of the platinum ever mined could fit into your living room.
Gold is simply rarer than silver – much rarer – and this imbalance in supply and demand between the two metals makes up most of the difference in their prices. ... Aluminum, for example, is a relatively cheap metal because it is abundant, but it is also a little difficult to extract.
Hardness - Both titanium and tungsten carbide are considerably harder than precious metals like gold and platinum. However, tungsten carbide is one of the hardest materials in existence and substantially harder than titanium, registering a 9 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness (compared to titanium's score of 6).
The California Gold Rush, 1849. In January 1848, James Wilson Marshall discovered gold while constructing a saw mill along the American River northeast of present-day Sacramento. The discovery was reported in the San Francisco newspapers in March but caused little stir as most did not believe the account. ... Gold!
The California Gold Rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.
The Gold Rush had devastating effects on California's environment. This eventually lead to laws restricting mining on rivers, hydraulic mining ended up being outlawed. In total, about 250,000 people came to California in the gold rush. ... By 1852 there were over 2,000 African Americans living in California.Jun 8, 2014
Miners extracted more than 750,000 pounds of gold during the California Gold Rush. Just days after Marshall's discovery at Sutter's Mill, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, ending the Mexican-American War and leaving California in the hands of the United States.
California Gold Rush (1848–1858) The great California gold rush began on January 24, 1848, when James W. Marshall discovered a gold nugget in the American River while constructing a sawmill for John Sutter, a Sacramento agriculturalist.
Many people in California figured gold was there, but it was James W. Marshall on January 24, 1848, who saw something shiny in Sutter Creek near Coloma, California. He had discovered gold unexpectedly while overseeing construction of a sawmill on the American River.
The element gold. Gold is element 79 and its symbol is Au. Though the name is Anglo Saxon, gold originated from the Latin Aurum, or shining dawn, and previously from the Greek.
During the formation of Earth, molten iron sank to its centre to make the core. This took with it the vast majority of the planet's precious metals -- such as gold and platinum. In fact, there are enough precious metals in the core to cover the entire surface of Earth with a four-metre thick layer.Sep 9, 2011
Veins of gold, such as this one trapped in quartz and granite, may deposit when the high-pressure water in which they were dissolved suddenly vaporises during an earthquake. Scientists have long known that veins of gold are formed by mineral deposition from hot fluids flowing through cracks deep in Earth's crust.Mar 17, 2013
Gold is found on every continent on Earth, except Antarctica. The largest amounts of gold on Earth are found in the oceans - but it is not yet feasible to extract gold from seawater. Gold is found all over the world including Canada, the United States, South Africa, Russia, Peru, China, Australia, Indonesia.
During the formation of Earth, molten iron sank to its centre to make the core. This took with it the vast majority of the planet's precious metals -- such as gold and platinum. In fact, there are enough precious metals in the core to cover the entire surface of Earth with a four-metre thick layer.Sep 9, 2011
Also, because gold is soft and does not tarnish or corrode, it makes excellent jewellery, it is a good material for filling cavities in teeth, and it makes excellent fine wire for electronics. Gold is very reflective, so it is used to protect spacecraft and satellites from solar radiation.
Today, most of the gold that is newly mined or recycled is used in the manufacture of jewelry. ... Craftsmen learned that alloying gold with other metals such as copper, silver, and platinum would increase its durability. Since then most gold used to make jewelry is an alloy of gold with one or more other metals.
In 2016 the United States produced 209 tonnes of gold, worth about US$8.5 billion, and 6.7% of world production, making it the fourth-largest gold-producing nation, behind China, Australia and Russia. Most gold produced today in the US comes from large open-pit heap leach mines in the state of Nevada.
Scientists have long known that veins of gold are formed by mineral deposition from hot fluids flowing through cracks deep in Earth's crust. But a study published today in Nature Geoscience1 has found that the process can occur almost instantaneously — possibly within a few tenths of a second.Mar 17, 2013
The most common natural method of concentration of gold is through the ancient action of hot fluid inside the Earth's crust. (Fluids deep in the crust are heated by the Earth's internal heat. ... As well as gold, the fluids carried other dissolved minerals, such as quartz. This is why gold is often found with quartz.
Earthquakes Turn Water Into Gold. The tyrannosaur of the minerals, this gold nugget in quartz weighs more than 70 ounces (2 kilograms). ... Water in faults vaporizes during an earthquake, depositing gold, according to a model published in the March 17 issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.Mar 17, 2013