Gold is an incredible substance that has been valued by humans for millennia. Gold is used in jewellery, technology, and as a form of investment. Read on to find out about some of the very interesting facts about this precious metal:
- Gold is more malleable than any other metal. It’s so soft that one ounce of gold can be hammered down and flattened to cover the square footage of a large apartment.
- Gold is extremely resistant and will not be dissolved by any acid other than aqua regia (“royal water”), a fuming corrosive mix of nitric and hydrochloric acids.
- Gold is also the most ductile of all the metals. This means that it can be pulled and stretched more easily than others. One ounce of gold can be stretched more than fifty miles.
- Scientists estimate that the average human has 0.2 milligrams of gold in their body. But don’t get too excited – if it were even possible, it would still take more than 150,000 people to combine and form a single ounce of gold.
- There is enough gold in the earth’s core to coat the Earth’s surface to a depth of more than a foot. Earth scientists hypothesize that gold nuggets came to earth almost four billion years ago during a bombardment of meteorites.
- South Africa had been the largest gold producer for almost a century, until it was overtaken by China in 2008. Now, South Africa is sixth on the list of gold-producing countries, behind China, Australia, the United States, Russia, and Peru.
- At current prices, all of the gold on the entire planet is worth about $7 trillion dollars. The supply of global gold is limited, but demand constantly increases.
- Gold’s unique properties make it well-suited to mission-critical technology, especially in space and nanotech. Gold coating is used to protect the Hubble Telescope and protects astronauts from radiation aboard space shuttles. Its optical properties make it ideally suited for use in medical nanotechnology to detect HIV and pregnancy.
- Gold can be traded on the foreign exchange market. You never even have to possess the gold physically, but simply capitalize on its value in relation to currencies like the US Dollar.
- Trading gold can be highly lucrative. With high potential reward comes greater risk, but traders with good instincts can quickly make huge profits from the comfort of their own home at any time of day.
Don’t let others take advantage of the ever-increasing value of gold. Get in on the action too by trading gold!
