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Interesting facts about gold
AURUM
Gold, in Latin aurum, translates as “bright dawn”.
CHEMICAL ELEMENT
The chemical symbol of gold is Au. The melting point of gold is 1,064 °C and its boiling point is 2,600 °C to 2,864 °C.
ORIGIN OF GOLD
Gold did not originate on Earth. It was formed by the explosion of stars and was carried here by meteorites 200 million years after the planet’s formation.
THE EARTH’S CRUST
The Earth’s crust contains an average of 0.0045 g of gold per tonne of rock.
PURITY
Purity (“pure” = fine, unmixed) is a numerical indication of the relative mass content of gold in an object or in an alloy.
CARATS
Purity is traditionally expressed in carats (ct). One carat is equivalent to 1/24th of the mass, which means that pure gold has 24 carats.
IT’S EVERYWHERE
Gold is pretty much everywhere, making its way from rocks into water, flora and fauna.
THE HUMAN BODY
Our bodies contain about 0.2 milligrams of gold, most of which is in the blood.
FOOD
Because gold is edible and completely harmless, it is also used in haute cuisine.
SOFTNESS
Pure gold is so soft you can scratch it with your fingernail.
CONDUCTIVITY
Gold is the second most conductive metal after silver.
MENDELEEV’S SYSTEM OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS
Gold is ranked 79th in the Mendeleev system of chemical elements.
DENSITY
Gold is very dense. It is 19 times denser than water and 2.5 times denser than iron.
A TONNE OF GOLD
One tonne of gold fits into a cube with sides 37.27 cm long.
AN OUNCE OF GOLD
One ounce of gold (31.1 g) can be flattened into a sheet 9 m by 9 m or stretched into a wire that is 76 km long.
GOLD PLATING
Gold flakes 0.0001 mm thick are used to gold-plate objects.
EIFFEL TOWER
All the physical gold in the world would fit onto the first floor of the Eiffel Tower.
BIGGEST BRICK OF GOLD
The world’s biggest gold brick weighs 250 kg.
STOCK OF MINED GOLD
The world’s stock of mined gold increases by just 1 to 2 per cent annually.
NUGGET
Nuggets are natural lumps of gold that vary in size and shape.
BIGGEST CHUNK OF GOLD
The biggest chunk of gold, weighing in at 233 kg and measuring 1.45 x 0.66 x 0.05 m, was found in New South Wales in 1872.
DEEPEST GOLD MINE
The world’s deepest gold mine is the Western Deep Levels Mine in the Transvaal, South Africa, which goes down to a depth of 3,840 metres.
AN OUNCE OF PURE GOLD
It would take one miner 38 hours of work to extract a single ounce of pure gold.
OLDEST GOLD FINDS
The oldest finds of gold date back to the Copper Age, about 6,000 BCE.
THE BIBLE
There are more than 400 references to gold in the Bible.
LONDON
About a fifth of all the gold held by governments is deposited under the streets of London.
APOLLO 11
The Apollo 11 lunar module was covered with gold foil to protect the crew from radiation.
ASTRONAUT HELMETS
Astronaut helmets are coated with a thin membrane of gold to protect astronauts from sunlight.
ROYAL BANK PLAZA
Each of the 14,000 glass panels on the Royal Bank Plaza skyscraper in Toronto contains 5 grams of 24-carat gold.
iPHONE
1 tonne of iPhones contains 300 times more gold than 1 tonne of gold ore
OLYMPIC MEDALS
Olympic gold medals contain just 1.34% gold.
WEDDING BANDS
Wedding bands shed more than 6 milligrams of gold each year simply by being worn.
WHITE GOLD
White gold is made from 75% pure gold and 25% nickel-zinc alloy.
AUROPHOBIA
Aurophobia is the fear of gold.