One of the most prized precious metals on earth is gold. This precious metal is highly valued not only for its dazzling beauty but also for its many uses. In fact, gold is widely used in a lot of industries. The computer as well as the electronics industries make use of gold not only because it is a good conductor of electricity but also because gold will never corrode or tarnish. Aside from these industries, the medical and dental industry as well as the beauty and jewelry industry also utilize gold. Gold has bacteria-resistant and anti-inflammatory properties, making it a very valuable precious metal to both the medicine and dental industry. As for the beauty and jewelry industry, gold has always been worn to make the person feel good and look rich.
Gold is widely used, but there are some things that you probably don’t know about gold that makes them all the more interesting.
Some gold are recycled.
Did you know that some of the gold jewelry in the world are simply recycled gold?
Yes, there are gold mines all over the world, mining new gold, but once gold has been extracted and is in circulation, then they are going to be reused in one form or another. What used to be an old gold coin may now be someone’s wedding ring. In fact, some gold jewelry today came from ancient gold coins as well as gold artifacts.
Here’s another interesting fact about recycled gold. 75% or more of all the gold in the world that is in circulation right now came from gold extractions done in the early 1900s.
Gold is very soft.
Yes, we all know that this precious metal is so soft that even biting into it causes dents, but did you know that gold is very soft and so pliable that they can even be made into sewing threads? In fact, one ounce of gold can be made into very fine sewing thread that can be stretched out to more than 50 miles!
Pure gold does not make a good jewelry though because of its very pliable and soft nature, so to make a strong jewelry that can support the weight of precious stones and gems, other metals have to be added to it to make it stronger and more durable. The most common metals used in gold jewelry are silver as well as copper and zinc as well as nickel.
There are gold in our oceans.
Just because gold is commonly mined on land, it doesn’t mean that it can’t be found in our oceans and seas. In fact, there are some gold in our waters, too. It’s just that no one’s bothering to extract them. Why? For very practical reasons, that’s why.
For one, there’s only a very small amount of gold in the oceans and seas. Two, extracting what little amount of gold that can be found in the oceans and seas will prove to be very impractical simply because the process is very expensive. Not only will you need specialized equipment and machines to extract them, but you will also need highly skilled people to do the job. In the end, you would have spent more money extracting them than making money from selling the gold you’ve extracted.
Jennifer Damewood is a freelance writer that specializes in silver and gold investments. In her spare time, Jennifer also contributes articles to the blogs of some of the best gold dealers in Austin.
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