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I have been meaning to do this entry for a while. I
keep hearing uninformed individuals saying "gold is useless."
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Colonel Smithers in the James Bond book Goldfinger explains gold's
extraordinary properties.
(emphasis mine) [my comment]
Bond: Goldfinger
There are no Swiss banks in Goldfinger although "Goldfinger, in ready money,
is the richest man in England. In Zürich, in Naussau, in Panama, in New
York, he has twenty million pounds' worth of gold bars on safe deposit."
But Goldfinger uses Switzerland as the hub of his gold trafficking (which was
illegal at the time in some European countries). There he has a discreet
plant where he melts down car parts made of solid gold to then discreetly
bank them or ship them on. Switzerland never had capital controls that
prevented the free flow of gold or other precious metals, and this makes it
even today the world's first market for gold. In the movie, Goldfinger uses
this Swiss freedoom to his advantage.
…
Colonel Smithers explains the British secret service's interest for Mr
Goldfinger operations during the dinner at the Bank of England:
'The great thing to remember about gold is that it's the most valuable
and most easily marketable commodity in the world. You can go to any town in
the world, almost to any village, and hand over a piece of gold and get goods
or services in exchange. Right?' Colonel Smithers's voice had
taken on a new briskness. His eyes were alight. He had his lecture pat. Bond
sat back. He was prepared to listen to anyone who was master of his subject,
any subject. 'And the next thing to remember,' Colonel Smithers held up his
pipe in warning, 'is that gold is virtually untraceable. Sovereigns have
no serial numbers. If gold bars have Mint marks stamped on them the marks can
be shaved off or the bar can be melted down and made into a new bar. That
makes it almost impossible to check on the whereabouts of gold, or its origins,
or its movements round the world. In England, for instance, we at the
Bank can only count the gold in our own vaults, in the vaults of others banks
and at the Mint, and make a rough guess at the amounts held by the jewellery
trade and the pawn-roking fraternity.'
'Why are you so anxious to know how much gold there is in England?' [How
much gold is there in England today?]
'Because gold and currencies backed by gold are the foundation of our
international credit. We can only tell what the true strength of the pound
is, and other countries can only tell it, by knowing the amount of valuta we
have behind our currency [valuta = the value of a currency
expressed in terms of its rate of exchange with gold (or some other
currency)]. And my main job, Mr Bond-'Colonel Smithers's bland
eyes had become unexpectedly sharp - 'is to watch for any leakage of gold out
of England - out of anywhere in the sterling area. And when I spot a
leakage, an escape of gold towards some country where it can be exchanged more
profitably than at our official buying price, it is my job to put the CID
Gold Squad on to the fugitive gold and try get it back into our vaults, plug
the leak and arrest the people responsible. And the trouble is, Mr
Bond-'Colonel Smithers gave a forlorn shrug of the shoulders-'that gold
attracts the biggest, the most ingenious criminals. They are very hard, very
hard indeed, to catch.'
'Isn't all this only a temporary phase? Why should this shortage of gold go
on? They seem to be digging it out of Africa fast enough. Isn't there enough
to go round? Isn't it just like any other black market that disappears when
the supplies are stepped up, like the penicillin traffic after the war?'
'I'm afraid not, Mr Bond. It isn't quite as easy as that. The population
of the world is increasing at the rate of five thousand four hundred every
hour of the day. A small percentage of those people become gold hoarders,
people who are frightened of currencies, who like to bury some sovereigns in
the garden or under the bed. Another percentage needs gold fillings
for their teeth. Others need gold-rimmed spectacles, jewellery, engagement
rings. All these new people will be taking tons of gold off the market
every year. New industries need gold wire, gold plating, amalgams of gold.
Gold has extraordinary properties which are being put to new uses every day.
It is brilliant, malleable, ductile, almost unalterable and more dense than
any of the common metals except platinum. There's no end to its uses. But it
has two defects. It isn't hard enough. It wears out quickly, leaves itself on
the linings of our pockets and in the sweat of our skins. Every year, the
world's stock is invisibly reduced by friction. I said that gold has two
defects.' Colonel Smithers looked sad. 'The other and by far the major defect
is that it is the talisman of fear. Fear, Mr Bond, takes gold out of
circulation and hoards it against the evil day. In a period of history when
every tomorrow may be the evil day, it is fair enough to say that a fat
proportion of the gold that is dug out of one corner of the earth is at once
buried again in another corner.' [the evil day = the collapse of
the international financial system]
Wikipedia explains all about gold.
Gold
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol
Au (Latin: aurum) and an atomic number of 79. It has been a highly
sought-after precious metal in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation
since the beginning of recorded history. The metal occurs as nuggets or
grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Gold is dense, soft,
shiny and the most malleable and ductile pure metal known. Pure gold has a
bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it
maintains without oxidizing in air or water. It is one of the coinage
metals and formed the basis for the gold standard used before the collapse of
the Bretton Woods system in 1971.
At the end of 2006, it was estimated that all the gold ever mined totaled
158,000 tonnes. This can be represented by a cube with an edge length of just
20.2 meters. Modern industrial uses include dentistry and electronics, where
gold has traditionally found use because of its good resistance to oxidative
corrosion and excellent quality as a conductor of electricity.
Chemically, gold is a transition metal and can form trivalent and univalent
cations upon solvation. At STP it is attacked by aqua regia (a mixture of
acids), forming chloroauric acid and by alkaline solutions of cyanide but not
by single acids such as hydrochloric, nitric or sulfuric acids. Gold
dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but does not react with it. Since
gold is insoluble in nitric acid which will dissolve silver and base metals,
this is exploited as the basis of the gold refining technique known as
"inquartation and parting". Nitric acid has long been used to
confirm the presence of gold in items, and this is the origin of the
colloquial term "acid test", referring to a gold standard test for
genuine value.
Characteristics
Gold is the most malleable and ductile of all metals; a single gram can be
beaten into a sheet of one square meter, or an ounce into 300 square feet.
Gold leaf can be beaten thin enough to become translucent. The
transmitted light appears greenish blue, because gold strongly reflects
yellow and red.[2]
Gold readily creates alloys with many other metals. These alloys can be
produced to modify the hardness and other metallurgical properties, to
control melting point or to create exotic colors (see below). Gold is a
good conductor of heat and electricity and reflects infra red radiation
strongly. Chemically, it is unaffected by air, moisture and most corrosive
reagents, and is therefore well-suited for use in coins and jewelry and as a
protective coating on other, more reactive, metals. However, it is not
chemically inert. Free halogens will react with gold, and aqua regia
dissolves it via formation of chlorine gas which attacks gold to form the
chloraurate ion. Gold also dissolves in alkaline solutions of potassium
cyanide and in mercury, forming a gold-mercury amalgam.
…
High quality pure metallic gold is tasteless; in keeping with its resistance
to corrosion (it is metal ions which confer taste to metals).
In addition, gold is very dense, a cubic meter weighing 19300 kg. By
comparison, the density of lead is 11340 kg/m³, and that of the densest
element, osmium, is 22610 kg/m³.
The color of pure gold is metallic yellow. Gold, caesium and copper are
the only metallic elements with a natural color other than gray or white.
The usual gray color of metals depends on their "electron sea" that
is capable of absorbing and re-emitting photons over a wide range of
frequencies. Gold reacts differently, depending on subtle relativistic
effects that affect the orbitals around gold atoms.
Applications
Medium
of monetary exchange
In various countries, gold was used as a standard for monetary exchange, but
this practice has been abandoned with the rise of fiat currency. The last
country to back their money with gold was Switzerland, which backed 40% of
its value until it joined the International Monetary Fund in 1999.
…
Jewelry
Because of the softness of pure (24k) gold, it is usually alloyed with base
metals for use in jewelry, altering its hardness and ductility, melting
point, color and other properties…
Medicine
…
In modern times injectable gold has been proven to help to reduce the pain
and swelling of rheumatoid arthritis and tuberculosis.
Dentistry. Gold alloys are used in restorative dentistry, especially
in tooth restorations, such as crowns and permanent bridges. The gold
alloys' slight malleability facilitates the creation of a superior molar
mating surface with other teeth and produces results that are generally more
satisfactory than those produced by the creation of porcelain crowns. The
use of gold crowns in more prominent teeth such as incisors is favored in
some cultures and discouraged in others.
… Colloidal gold is used in research applications in medicine,
biology and materials science. The technique of immunogold labeling exploits
the ability of the gold particles to adsorb protein molecules onto their
surfaces…
Gold, or alloys of gold and palladium, are applied as conductive coating
to biological specimens and other non-conducting materials such as plastics
and glass to be viewed in a scanning electron microscope…
The isotope gold-198, (half-life: 2.7 days) is used in some cancer treatments
and for treating other diseases.
…
Industry
Gold solder is used for joining the components of gold jewelry by
high-temperature hard soldering or brazing…
Gold can be made into thread and used in embroidery.
Gold is ductile and malleable, meaning it can be drawn into very thin wire
and can be beaten into very thin sheets known as gold leaf.
Gold produces a deep, intense red color when used as a coloring agent in
cranberry glass.
In photography, gold toners are used to shift the color of silver bromide
black and white prints towards brown or blue tones, or to increase their
stability. Used on sepia-toned prints, gold toners produce red tones. Kodak
published formulas for several types of gold toners, which use gold as the
chloride (Kodak, 2006).
As gold is a good reflector of electromagnetic radiation such as infrared and
visible light as well as radio waves, it is used for the protective coatings
on many artificial satellites, in infrared protective faceplates in thermal
protection suits and astronauts' helmets and in electronic warfare planes
like the EA-6B Prowler.
Gold is used as the reflective layer on some high-end CDs.
Automobiles may use gold for heat insulation. McLaren uses gold foil in
the engine compartment of its F1 model.
Gold can be manufactured so thin that it appears transparent. It is used
in some aircraft cockpit windows for de-icing or anti-icing by passing
electricity through it. The heat produced by the resistance of the gold is
enough to deter ice from forming.
Electronics
The concentration of free electrons in gold metal is 5.90×1022
cm-3. Gold is highly conductive to electricity, and has been
used for electrical wiring in some high energy applications (silver is even
more conductive per volume, but gold has the advantage of corrosion
resistance). For example, gold electrical wires were used during some of the
Manhattan Project's atomic experiments, but large high current silver wires
were used in the calutron isotope separator magnets in the project.
Though gold is attacked by free chlorine, its good conductivity and
general resistance to oxidation and corrosion in other environments
(including resistance to non-chlorinated acids) has led to its widespread
industrial use in the electronic era as a thin layer coating electrical
connectors of all kinds, thereby ensuring good connection. For example, gold
is used in the connectors of the more expensive electronics cables, such as
audio, video and USB cables. The benefit of using gold over other
connector metals such as tin in these applications is highly debated. Gold
connectors are often criticized by audio-visual experts as unnecessary for
most consumers and seen as simply a marketing ploy. However, the use of
gold in other applications in electronic sliding contacts in highly humid or
corrosive atmospheres, and in use for contacts with a very high failure cost
(certain computers, communications equipment, spacecraft, jet aircraft
engines) remains very common, and is unlikely to be replaced in the near
future by any other metal.
Besides sliding electrical contacts, gold is also used in electrical contacts
because of its resistance to corrosion, electrical conductivity, ductility
and lack of toxicity. Switch contacts are generally subjected to more intense
corrosion stress than are sliding contacts.
Fine gold wires are used to connect semiconductor devices to their packages
through a process known as wire bonding.
Other
Many competitions, and honors, such as the Olympics and the Nobel Prize,
award a gold medal to the winner.
Gold is even useful as
clothing!
Models show off pure gold underwear for women and a
pure gold tie and wrist strap for men at an exhibition in Chongqing, China
Picture: BARCROFT MEDIA
My reaction: Gold has a mix of
extraordinary properties which have resulted in its use in a wide range of
applications. It is not "useless" in the least.
Gold's unique properties
-
Gold is the most malleable and ductile of all metals
(a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of one square meter. Gold leaf can
even be beaten thin enough to become translucent)
-
Gold is chemically unaffected by air, moisture, and
most corrosive reagents. Gold is the most acid resistant of all base metals
(corrosion resistance is a big plus for coins and jewellery)
-
Gold is a good reflector of electromagnetic radiation
-
Gold is highly conductive to electricity (only
silver is better, but gold has the advantage of corrosion resistance)
-
Gold is a good conductor of heat
-
Gold is very dense (which makes it impossible to
counterfeit gold coins and bars)
-
Gold is one of only three metallic elements with a
natural non-gray color.
Gold's Many Applications
-
Gold has historically been used as jewelry and a
medium of monetary exchange. This is no accident. Gold's unique color (as a
non-gray metal), its softness (most malleable and ductile of all metals), its
corrosion resistance (acid test), and density (more dense than any of the
common metals except platinum) make easily identifiable and impossible to
counterfeit.
-
Gold is used in dentistry due to its corrosion
resistance and malleability
-
Gold is used in medicine for its unique properties.
-
Gold is used as a protective coatings on artificial
satellites,
-
Gold is used as a protective coatings in infrared
protective faceplates in thermal protection suits and astronauts' helmets
-
Gold is used as a protective coatings in electronic
warfare planes like the EA-6B Prowler.
-
McLaren uses gold foil in the engine compartment of
its F1 model.
-
Gold is used in some aircraft cockpit windows for
de-icing or anti-icing by passing electricity through it.
-
Gold electrical wires were used during some of the
Manhattan Project's atomic experiments.
-
Gold is widely used as a thin layer coating
electrical connectors of all kinds, thereby ensuring good connection.
-
The use of gold in electronic sliding contacts in
highly humid or corrosive atmospheres, and in use for contacts with a very
high failure cost (certain computers, communications equipment, spacecraft,
jet aircraft engines) remains very common, and is unlikely to be replaced
in the near future by any other metal.
-
Gold can, apparently, even be used as clothing.
Conclusion: The only thing
limiting the widespread use of gold in a variety of applications is its
scarcity and expensiveness. If gold was cheap and plentiful, it would be used
in virtually everything electronic (electrical wires, computer chips, etc).
Eric de Carbonnel
Market Skeptics
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