# The gold in Fort Knox--what is it for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2008, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534 "2008-10-18T16:59:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![miamouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ad7895/32.png) [@miamouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miamouse)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/21 "2008-10-20T01:38:57Z")
IIRC, (and I might not because I’m only three hours into watching the documentary), the guy who narrates “The Money Masters” claimed the gold in Fort Knox is collateral against what the US has borrowed from the Fed. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/22 "2008-10-20T02:31:19Z")
It doesn’t really have a purpose anymore, but the government owns it, and if they gave it away, it would be an economic disaster. It would certainly not help with the current economic situation; rather, it would cause enormous inflation in the gold market, akin to what would happen in the U.S. dollar market if the Fed started giving away $20s. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/23 "2008-10-20T11:02:08Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > I can’t see the promise-to-pay language in the link… It’s on the front of the note, in small print under the large words “Bank of England” at the top. It reads “I PROMISE TO PAY THE BEARER ON DEMAND THE SUM OF TWENTY POUNDS”. The photo on page 1 of the link shows it (with the words following “DEMAND” obscured by the thumb of the person holding the note). The full text can be seen in the picture on page 3. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/24 "2008-10-20T11:17:12Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Of course the gold standard was just as much a matter of “blind faith”: the belief that a lump or disc of shiny yellow metal (of marginal real utility) was worth $20 worth of bacon (tasty and nutritious\*). > > \*Well, except for the whole nitrites and saturated fats business. But gold does have intrinsic value. E.g. it doesn’t tarnish like silver or rust like iron, so for jewelry… It’s an excellent electrical conductor, can be drawn into a thin wire or hammered into leaf. Lots of practical uses for it. > **[Gold](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold)** > > Gold is a chemical element; its chemical symbol is Au (from Latin aurum) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a bright-metallic-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal, a group 11 element, and one of the noble metals. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements, being the second lowest in the reactivity series, with only platinum ranked as less reactive. Gold is solid under standard conditions. > Gold often occurs as the free elem... I’m not saying we shouldn’t at least _consider_ going to a bacon standard, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alive_At_Both_Ends)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/25 "2008-10-20T11:33:28Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > But gold does have intrinsic value. E.g. it doesn’t tarnish like silver or rust like iron, so for jewelry… It’s an excellent electrical conductor, can be drawn into a thin wire or hammered into leaf. Lots of practical uses for it. Depends what you mean by “practical”. Electrical conductivity and dentistry I’ll grant you, but many of the other “uses” cited in that link are based on it being an attractive shiny metal. Jewellery serves no \*practical \*purpose. Gold leaf is just a way of getting that shiny yellowness on to book spines and suchlike. And none of the practical uses are very important as metals go. Iron, copper or aluminium are far more important. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/26 "2008-10-20T11:42:16Z")
> [@lobotomyboy63](#): > > But gold does have intrinsic value. E.g. it doesn’t tarnish like silver or rust like iron, so for jewelry… It’s an excellent electrical conductor, can be drawn into a thin wire or hammered into leaf. Lots of practical uses for it. > > [Gold - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold) > > I’m not saying we shouldn’t at least _consider_ going to a bacon standard, of course. It’s useful for ornamentation (jewelry, gold thread for fancy clothes, gold leaf for fancy books). It _is_ useful as money; of all the stuff lying around in the Neolithic Era, it was probably the best suited for being converted into a tangible representation of wealth. (I suspect the fact that it wasn’t very useful for anything else was one of the contributing factors in making gold useful as money.) People have been thinking that Gold Is Money for at least 2,600 years, and this has led to “uses” that derive from the Gold Is Money equation. (“Look at me! I’m eating gold! I _must_ be rich!” “Well, surely _this_ will cure my disease–it’s made of gold!”) Nowadays, we have actually found a few other uses for the stuff besides looking pretty and being money, but it’s still not nearly as widely used for practical purposes as copper (and tin), iron, aluminum, and so on. If someone found the proverbial method of making gold from lead, the usefulness of gold as money would be severely compromised; it might be more commonly used for ornamental purposes, but on the other hand at least some of the reason gold is used for ornament is because Gold Is Money; and even if it were vastly more available gold probably still wouldn’t be as widely used as copper, iron and steel, aluminum, plastic, and so forth. It is [very dense](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_elements_by_density). I dunno about using it for [fishhooks](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10334843), but it would probably make a pretty good fishing sinker, if there wasn’t any osmium or iridium to be had. Or a bullet–you could use gold to make bullets (for those really _special_ werewolves). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/27 "2008-10-20T11:43:58Z")
> [@](#): > > What, no Goldfinger jokes yet? > [@](#): > > I’m not saying we shouldn’t at least _consider_ going to a bacon standard, of course. “This is _bacon_, Mr. Bond. All my life I have been in love with its color, its divine heaviness. I will do anything to increase my stock, which is considerable.” “Thanks for the lecture, Baconfinger. You can let me go now.” “Choose your next witticism carefully, Mr. Bond. It may be your last!” “Do you expect me to talk, Baconfinger?” “No, Mr. Bond. I expect you to die! There is nothing you can tell me that I do not already know!” “Nothing about…Denny’s Grand Slam Breakfast, for instance?” ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/28 "2008-10-20T13:15:37Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > Way to be subtle, guys! Criminal gangs should have no confusion there. For what it’s worth, the actual depository building isn’t hidden at all. It’s in an open field – surrounded myriad defenses, no doubt – in clear view of US 31W about 20 miles south of Louisville. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/29 "2008-10-20T13:23:38Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > …Or a bullet–you could use gold to make bullets (for those really _special_ werewolves). Heh. Another Bond reference. The assassin Scaramanga in the movie _The Man with the Golden Gun_ had distinctive gold bullets. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/30 "2008-10-20T13:26:34Z")
I drove by it a few weeks ago for the first time. I was surprised to see it’s just a couple hundred yards from a public highway outside the military base. Army “forts” are pretty open as US military facilities go, but I expected the Gold Repository to be situated a little more in the defensible interior, not out on the edge. Just based on driving up the highway, it appeared to me that the visible defences were an ordinary 8’ chain-link fence at the sidewalk/edge of the military base. Then up near the building there was a single layer of highway median barricades, an 8-10’ metal fence of vertical bars on 8" (+/-) centers, and a 15’ chainlink fence with concertina wire. Then the walls of the building itself. And they had video cameras on the building & around the perimiter fences. IOW, about the same visible security as a typical county jail. One suspects the not-so-obvious defenses are a little more substantial. ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/31 "2008-10-20T13:30:06Z")
So, Fort Knox is the gold equivalent of the mythical diamond-hoarding vaults of DeBeers? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/32 "2008-10-20T17:02:42Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > I’m not aware of any gold backing requirement. You could be right, but I’m not aware that this was the case. I rather doubt it. Here’a cite, from the [Eagle Traders](http://www.eagletraders.com/advice/securities/federal_reserve_ratio.htm) website. Believe me, I had to hunt for quite some time to find anything about this other than on the websites oriented to gold bugs who think modern central banks are a criminal enterprise. > [@Eagle Traders](#): > > By the end of 1967, the ratio of gold certificates to Federal Reserve notes outstanding was down to 27.1%. By act of Congress approved March 18. 1968 (P.L. 90-269), the revised provision of Section 16 of the Federal Reserve Act, under which the Federal Reserve banks were required to maintain reserves in gold certificates of not less than 25% against Federal Reserve notes (the so-called gold cover against the notes) was finally eliminated altogether. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/33 "2008-10-20T17:52:16Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > One suspects the not-so-obvious defenses are a little more substantial. Or, Fort Knox is a decoy. And the gold reserves are actually buried far beneath Mount Rushmore. ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/34 "2008-10-20T17:59:08Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > One suspects the not-so-obvious defenses are a little more substantial. Well, as was discussed in Goldfinger, the logistics of moving large amounts of material is a pretty considerable defense. By the time you’ve move in the heavy trucks and spent a few hours schlepping forklift loads of gold, probably the authorities would show up and have words with you. ---
**Author:** ![sqweels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f19dbf/32.png) [@sqweels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sqweels)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/35 "2008-10-20T20:17:16Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > “Nothing about…Denny’s Grand Slam Breakfast, for instance?” Dia_bolical._ ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/36 "2008-10-20T20:20:03Z")
Well, if you recall the book, Goldfinger’s plan to actually steal the gold was all a bluff. He intends to vaporise/irradiate it and deal a crushing blow to the US economy. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/37 "2008-10-20T20:44:14Z")
Well, seriously, who’s going to rob Ft. Knox? It is generally considered a bad thing to have the U.S. military after you (cf. Afghanistan). And of course if you want to steal gold, you have to get it back out, unlike a suicide bomber (or with Auric Goldfinger’s plan :p). Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/38 "2008-10-20T20:46:01Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Well, if you recall the book, Goldfinger’s plan to actually steal the gold was all a bluff. He intends to vaporise/irradiate it and deal a crushing blow to the US economy. which brings me back to the Original question in title of this thread: vaporising it won’t deal a crushing blow to the economy, since the gold apparently doesn’t serve any useful purpose in the first place. (gee… I wonder if maybe the guard at the vault could just give me a little sample or something…after all, since nobody is using it, they wouldn’t miss it, would they? 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/39 "2008-10-20T20:58:38Z")
> [@Alive\_At\_Both\_Ends](#): > > Depends what you mean by “practical”. Electrical conductivity and dentistry I’ll grant you, but many of the other “uses” cited in that link are based on it being an attractive shiny metal. Jewellery serves no \*practical \*purpose. Gold leaf is just a way of getting that shiny yellowness on to book spines and suchlike. And none of the practical uses are very important as metals go. Iron, copper or aluminium are far more important. When I posted, I was remembering that the lunar module had gold coating on parts of it. [http://collections.nasm.si.edu/code/emuseum.asp?profile=objects&newstyle=single&quicksearch=A19711598000](http://collections.nasm.si.edu/code/emuseum.asp?profile=objects&newstyle=single&quicksearch=A19711598000) From the article cited… \*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. Colloidal gold particles coated with specific antibodies can be used as probes for the presence and position of antigens on the surfaces of cells (Faulk and Taylor 1979). In ultrathin sections of tissues viewed by electron microscopy, the immunogold labels appear as extremely dense round spots at the position of the antigen (Roth et al. 1980). Colloidal gold is also the form of gold used as gold paint on ceramics prior to firing. 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 coating, which is usually applied by sputtering with an argon plasma, has a triple role in this application. Gold’s very high electrical conductivity drains electrical charge to earth, and its very high density provides stopping power for electrons in the SEM’s electron beam, helping to limit the depth to which the electron beam penetrates the specimen. This improves definition of the position and topography of the specimen surface and increases the spatial resolution of the image. Gold also produces a high output of secondary electrons when irradiated by an electron beam, and these low-energy electrons are the most commonly-used signal source used in the scanning electron microscope. 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. The isotope gold-198, (half-life: 2.7 days) is used in some cancer treatments and for treating other diseases.[5] Automobiles may use gold for heat insulation. McLaren uses gold foil in the engine compartment of its F1 model.\* ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2008, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534/40 "2008-10-20T21:11:12Z")
**MkVII** writes: > [@](#): > > Well, if you recall the book, Goldfinger’s plan to actually steal the gold was all a bluff. He intends to vaporise/irradiate it and deal a crushing blow to the US economy. No, it wasn’t. I was quite surprised when I read the book to find that Goldfinger really did intend to steal the gold. It’s only in the film adaptation that he intends to set off a “very dirty” fission bomb laced with cobalt and iodine to make the gold radioactive. The most unbelievable thing about the film is that Goldfinger didn’t stop to take a sample – especially if he knew that the US gold supply would be vaporized or activated, he’d want to have one or two of the only unspoiled ingots. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gold-in-fort-knox-what-is-it-for/468534.md?page=3)