Gold

Why is it so valuable?

• Ornaments for kings

• decoration on tombs and temples

• a monetary reference -- the value of a bill guarantees a given amount of gold

• a currency and standard for global currencies

• in competitions as symbol of victory

• in a wide range of electronic devices and medical applications.

Gold has been used as …

• It is a chemical element with the symbol Au from the Greek word aurum, which means glow of sunshine.

• It is the only metal of this color. The gold's characteristic yellow color is due to the arrangement of its electrons.

gold mirror fish Mercedes Benz C63 AMG

Gold has a unique aesthetic

• Gold is dense, soft, shiny• Gold is the most malleable and ductile of all the

metals. • it is very efficient for the transmission of heat

and electricity• It has a relatively low melting point, and can be

made into coins• It has the highest corrosion resistance of all the

metals

• Gold's relative inertness means you can create an elaborate golden jaguar and be confident that 1,000 years later it can be found in a museum display case in pristine condition.

Gold is scarce, but not impossibly rare

• It is estimated that all the gold on the planet equals a total of 5,407,112,558 ounces. – a single solid gold cube about 20

meters or the length of a tennis court

gold

• doesn't have any intrinsic value. • A currency only has value because we, as a

society, decide that it does.• gold is unbelievably beautiful– All the other metals in the periodic table are

silvery colored, except copper, which turns green when exposed to moist air

• In the 16th Century, the European discovery of South American gold deposits led to an enormous fall in the value of gold – and an enormous increase in the price of everything else.

• many countries escaped the Great Depression in the 1930s by unhitching their currencies from the Gold Standard. Doing so freed them to print more money and reflate their economies

• On Apr. 5, 1933, President Roosevelt issued an executive order forbidding the private possession of gold.

• All gold (coins, buillion, certificate over $100 were turned in to the government compensated at $20 an ounce.

Why isn’t gold used for currency?

• In 1973, President Richard Nixon cut the U.S. dollar's tie to gold

• the US was running out of the necessary gold to back all the dollars it had printed

• Between 1971 and 2012 the US currency in circulation increased from $48.6 billion to over $1 trillion dollars.

• the price of gold has gone from $260 per troy ounce in 2001, to peak at $1,921.15 in September 2011, before falling back to $1,230 in 2013