# what's so special about gold? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 27, 2001, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669 "2001-05-27T09:23:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/1 "2001-05-27T09:23:09Z")
Why have so many cultures found gold to be so valueable? I was reading a book by a crackpot who thought that gold is univerally valueable because aliens who visited earth found it to be a great conductor of electricity. I don’t buy that, but other than it being shiny, what’s so special? ---
**Author:** ![Cardinal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardinal/32/4000_2.png) [@Cardinal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardinal)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/2 "2001-05-27T10:07:47Z")
1. It’s pretty. 2. It doesn’t tarnish. 3. H. O.!! 4. It’s hard to find. 5. It’s easy to mash into various shapes. 6. In 20th and up centuries, it’s valuable because it’s a great conductor of electricity. You wouldn’t want to make wires out of it, but small etched paths or contact points would be OK, if obviously more expensive than most. I think that about covers it. ---
**Author:** ![Kalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalt)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/3 "2001-05-27T10:10:09Z")
Would that book be “Rule by Secrecy” by Jim Marrs by any chance? Platinum is cooler that gold, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ryoushi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@ryoushi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryoushi)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/4 "2001-05-27T10:36:01Z")
1. Despite being hard to find, it occurs naturally in elemental form, making it easy to use (not as much refining required as more useful metals like iron). ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/5 "2001-05-27T11:34:42Z")
I have read that all the gold that has ever been mined in human history would amount a single cube only 60 feet per side. This seems a very small amount, is it correct? ---
**Author:** ![Stupendous\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a8b319/32.png) [@Stupendous\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stupendous_man)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/6 "2001-05-27T12:02:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Icerigger \* > \*\*I have read that all the gold that has ever been mined in human history would amount a single cube only 60 feet per side. This seems a very small amount, is it correct? \*\* I believe I have heard that before too. What’s more interesting, is the fact that there is more gold dissolved in the oceans than we will ever find in the ground. It’s just not cost-efficient to extract it. I remember reading that someplace, but I cannot recall where, or when. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/7 "2001-05-27T12:38:47Z")
> [@](#): > > because aliens who visited earth found it to be a great conductor of electricity. Does anyone else find it strange that a civilization which has the ability to visit the Earth would be interested in gold’s properties as a conductor of electricity? \ Wow! This stuff is great! \ Now we can junk our vaccuum tubes and retrofit the ship with microcircuits, just a soon as we invent them. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/8 "2001-05-27T12:49:28Z")
Gold isn’t the best conductor of electricity, anyway - that honor belongs to Silver. But Gold is good for electrical contacts because it doesn’t oxidize, whereas most metals do and form a metal oxide layer over their surfaces (metal oxides are insulators). ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2001, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/9 "2001-05-27T15:01:19Z")
The 60-foot on a side thing might be about right. That comes out to about 4 billion ounces. I dug up a figure which said that official gold reserves held by countries amounted to about 1.1 billion ounces. Another stat I dug up said that such reserves amounted to about 1/4 of the world’s gold supply. Voila! I’ll bet it’s a bit low, though, given that people have been digging up gold since antiquity, and it’s hard to estimate how much, or where it all is. Hmmm, there’s about as many ounces of gold in the world as shares of microsoft stock (5.4 billion, 4.4 billion float). ---
**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/10 "2001-05-28T18:06:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Kalt \* > \*\*Would that book be “Rule by Secrecy” by Jim Marrs by any chance? > > \*\* Actually it is from a Hebrew book, which is promoted in this site: [http://www.truebible.co.il/index.htm](http://www.truebible.co.il/index.htm) Like I said, I think the guys a few cans short of a six-pack, but he does raise a somewhat interesting question. I have a hard time believing that just because something is shiny, malleable, and hard to find would make it so valueable in such diverse cultures that had no contact with one another. Its value is arbitrary, so a civilization could have picked any metal or any other material to be worth the most. ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/11 "2001-05-28T18:21:09Z")
In its elemental form, it is sometimes found right on the surface or in streams. It isn’t affected by rot-- Just about everything associated with time eventually decays. Pure gold items are routinely brought up from the ocean floor in good states of preservation, something that can’t be said for copper, iron, silver, not to mention wood or textiles. I think a mixture of acids- “Aqua Regia” is about the only thing that will attack gold. It can’t be readily counterfeit-- so makes for a credible store of value for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Haven’t heard of too many expeditions in search of some mythical monarch’s checkbook, have you?? ---
**Author:** ![Kalt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Kalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalt)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/12 "2001-05-28T21:21:52Z")
curwin you should check out “Rule by Secrecy” - really crazy stuff, and … well i dont want to ruin the wonderful ending chapter for you. The scary thing is… it can’t ALL be false (even if most of it is). ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/13 "2001-05-28T22:34:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by curwin \* > \*\*what’s so special about gold? \*\* Why, _nothing_ **curwn**. Send me all you’ve got, and I’ll prove it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![pesch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pesch/32/4925_2.png) [@pesch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pesch)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/14 "2001-05-29T01:39:26Z")
Well, they tried leaves as a medium of exchange. Everyone became millionaires overnight, but they had to burn down all the trees to stop the inflation. At least, that’s what Douglas Adams said! ---
**Author:** ![lesa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/34f0e0/32.png) [@lesa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lesa)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/15 "2001-05-29T06:43:21Z")
Actually, curwin, you hit on something that has actually happened when you said, “so a civilization could have picked any metal or any other material to be worth the most.” In ancient Egypt they valued gold, but they valued silver more. That’s because silver was much rarer. They also valued glass, which was almost impossible to make. So silver and glass were actually worth more than gold. This shows that gold is not always the _most_ valuable material. People who can work metal always value it, because it’s beautiful, relatively easy to work, and doesn’t tarnish. But it’s actual value varies, depending on how rare it is. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/16 "2001-05-29T07:20:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by curwin \* > \*\*Why have so many cultures found gold to be so valueable? I was reading a book by a crackpot who thought that gold is univerally valueable because aliens who visited earth found it to be a great conductor of electricity. I don’t buy that, but other than it being shiny, what’s so special? > > \*\* 1. It is pretty. 2. It is rare. 3. It can be made into interesting shapes Marc ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/17 "2001-05-29T12:45:19Z")
[homer] oooo…shiny! [/homer] ---
**Author:** ![Mort\_Furd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mort\_Furd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mort_Furd)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2001, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-so-special-about-gold/66669/18 "2001-05-29T12:49:58Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Napier \* > \*\*Gold isn’t the best conductor of electricity, anyway - that honor belongs to Silver. But Gold is good for electrical contacts because it doesn’t oxidize, whereas most metals do and form a metal oxide layer over their surfaces (metal oxides are insulators). \*\* Actually, gold does oxidize. Oxidized gold is transparent, however, and also conducts electricity.