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Gold
- Thread starter 'Gear
- Start date
SAUSAGEMAN
Registered User
Gold has value for the same reason money has value - we have collectively decided as a society to use it as a currency. It doesn't have any inherent value like useful things such as oil and rice, though, of course, though insane libertarians (ie all of them) will disagree.
'Gear
RIP 1970~2018
Consumer
Elder Statesman
(notes good use of the "let's question the foundations of society" troll technique)
Not sure.
As an Electronics professional the current usefulness of gold is that it is a very good conductor and doesn't tarnish (although the intermetalics with tin/lead solder and the lead-less solder formulations can be problematic if the layer of gold over copper is too thick, particularly when trying to bond it to nickel). It also conducts heat well. Being slightly more dense than lead, it also has very useful shielding qualities.
But why the ancients loved this stuff and turned it into a valuable metal...I have no idea. It's too soft to use as a weapon (i.e. softer than copper even), it's heavy so that makes transportation problematic, and it doesn't form alloys easily, it makes very poor armor or nails.
It IS soft and easy to work with simple tools, so you can make pretty things with it. Combine that with minimal post-extraction processing and a low melting point makes it a nice choice for jewelry or other ornament. Maybe that's the reason?
Not sure.
As an Electronics professional the current usefulness of gold is that it is a very good conductor and doesn't tarnish (although the intermetalics with tin/lead solder and the lead-less solder formulations can be problematic if the layer of gold over copper is too thick, particularly when trying to bond it to nickel). It also conducts heat well. Being slightly more dense than lead, it also has very useful shielding qualities.
But why the ancients loved this stuff and turned it into a valuable metal...I have no idea. It's too soft to use as a weapon (i.e. softer than copper even), it's heavy so that makes transportation problematic, and it doesn't form alloys easily, it makes very poor armor or nails.
It IS soft and easy to work with simple tools, so you can make pretty things with it. Combine that with minimal post-extraction processing and a low melting point makes it a nice choice for jewelry or other ornament. Maybe that's the reason?
SAUSAGEMAN
Registered User
Presumably, when more primitive societies looked to create currency, gold was pretty easy to mint into coins and rare enough that counterfeits wouldn't be common.
Archibald Nixon
anti-life coach
You're all completely dropping the ball here. The math on this is simple:
QED
gold = malleable
gold = shiny
gold = durable
malleable + shiny + durable = jewelry
women ♥ jewelry
(man + jewelry) + woman = laid
(man - jewelry) + woman = fap
laid = procreation = survival
fap = no procreation = extinction
Thus,
Gold = survival
gold = shiny
gold = durable
malleable + shiny + durable = jewelry
women ♥ jewelry
(man + jewelry) + woman = laid
(man - jewelry) + woman = fap
laid = procreation = survival
fap = no procreation = extinction
Thus,
Gold = survival
QED
Seph
* * Filthy European * *
Archibald Nixon
anti-life coach
On a more nerdy note:
- Doesn't the low melting point hinder its usefulness as a heat conductor?
- Its ductility is second to none. You can flatten it into sheets literally a molecule thick and it'll still hold together, which is pretty much what gold leaf is. This characteristic makes it quite valuable in electronics...what Consumer said.
- It's also, amazingly enough, edible. They use real gold leaf flakes to decorate high-end cakes & such --try that with lead or mercury! Although I wouldn't go pounding the stuff daily like some colloidal silver lunatic.
Consumer
Elder Statesman
Depends on the application.
You still have a melting point of just short of 2000 Deg (f) (note, copper's within a few degrees too), that's a good number for a lot of applications outside of a metal foundry!
BTW, for comparison, the melting point of Iron is about 2800 deg F, Lead is is only 621 deg F (which is part of why it's popular for soldering), and bronze is 1743 deg F (approximate, can vary depending on your copper/tin alloy mix)
Note the jump in temperature to work Iron. This explains why Iron tools and weapons are considered the product of a more "advanced" culture and technology. You need a "Bloomery" type furnace in most case, and even then you get "wrought" (fibrous) iron rather than "pig" iron, which requires working at temperature and a "blast" furnace (i.e. forced air).
Enough geekery.
starguard
Unluckiest Charm in the Box
Cut and Past time....
QUESTION: Why is gold as valuable as it is? Why isn't sodium or tin as valuable?
ANSWER: Gold is one of three precious metals, the others being Platinum and to a lesser extent silver. The main reason for their value is that they are rare. You can put all the gold ever found in a cube less than 150 feet. Not very big by today's standards. In a good gold mine, you have to move and refine ten tons of dirt or rock for each ounce of gold recovered. There are not many good gold mines in the world either. The second property of a precious metal is that it has to be impervious to the elements. In other words it cannot rust, corrode, or be degradable by other elements. Gold is so inert that it is sometimes found in nature in the natural metal state in the form of nuggets. This allowed people in ancient times to take the natural nuggets and pound them together to form metal objects. Gold does not oxidize or corrode, so it’s shape will remain a thousand years from now if you do not ware it away.
Other properties making it valuable is malleability. You can literally beat on it and it tends not to crack. In fact gold can be hammered out so thin that light will pass through it. It has been hammered out thinner than tinfoil and applied to objects as "Gold Foil". Gold foil stays a highly reflective beautiful yellow color, lasting forever. There never has been a paint that will last and protect like gold foil. Gold was used to cover idols and temples raising its status even further.
Historically, only the affluent, churches, and governments could afford to own gold. It’s value was based on work. People worked to earn gold (or silver), virtually trading part of their lives for gold and its purchasing power. It quickly became impractical to carry large piles of gold, so governments took most of the gold and gave people promissory notes (money) representing a given weight in gold. Before the early 30’s you could take your money to the bank and get the same amount of dollars in gold coins.
Let’s talk about that beautiful yellow color. Gold just looks good and glorifies human skin colors. A fine craftsperson can form gold into small sculptures that can be worn, admired, and enjoyed. It can be fashioned into small sculptures that hold precious stones - jewelry. Because of its permanence, gold can be repaired and admired for many lifetimes. Thus you have precious jewelry, as opposed to costume jewelry, which is intended to wear with just one "costume" and then be discarded.
Today there are other new uses for gold. Gold transfers electricity with less resistance than any other metal on this earth. Extremely high-end electronics and computer components use gold wiring instead of copper for their circuitry. Gold does not corrode and it is used to plate or make fine electrical contacts. It is very reflective and is used in equipment that needs to not oxidize like laser chambers. Very thin layers cut down on light without changing its properties. Astronauts, pilots and high-end sunglasses are coated with gold to cut down on the intensity of the sun's rays. Extremely fine fabrics have gold threads because gold does not dull with time.
The value of gold will never go down. At a certain level of value, mines will shut down operations because production costs are higher than they can sell it for. Today, there are more uses for gold being found daily. The question is, “will we have enough gold to fulfill the demand in the future?” There has never been enough gold in the past to fulfill everyone’s desire. And there will not be enough gold to fill future demands. Gold is beautiful and it has very valuable rare properties which makes it so valuable.
Source: http://www.theqandatimes.com/artman/publish/article_954.shtm
dogbert
King of Sarcasm
1. Rare - About 5 parts per billion of the earth’s crust. Difficult and expensive to mine.
2. Indestructible - It does not tarnish or decay.
3. Compact - If all the gold ever mined were made into a solid block whose base was the size of a football field, then it would be about 1.5 meters (5 feet) high.
4. Malleable and divisible - You can easily reshape it, flatten it, and divide it into tiny pieces.
5. Hard to find - The amount of mined gold has increased only slowly, rarely more than 2% per year.
2. Indestructible - It does not tarnish or decay.
3. Compact - If all the gold ever mined were made into a solid block whose base was the size of a football field, then it would be about 1.5 meters (5 feet) high.
4. Malleable and divisible - You can easily reshape it, flatten it, and divide it into tiny pieces.
5. Hard to find - The amount of mined gold has increased only slowly, rarely more than 2% per year.