Interested in learning more about gold? Read below for me facts and interesting notes about gold.
Atomic Weight
196.96657
Melting Point
1,063 °C (1,945 °F)
Boiling Point
2,966 °C (5,371 °F)
Specific Gravity
19.3 at 20 °C (68 °F)
Pennyweight Conversions
1 pennyweight (dwt) = 7.776 carats
1 pennyweight (dwt) = 1.55 grams
31.1 grams = 1 troy ounce
1 pennyweight (dwt) = 24 grains
480 grains = 1 troy ounce
1 pennyweight (dwt) = 0.05 troy ounce
20 pennyweight (dwt) = 1 troy ounce
12 troy ounces = 1 troy pound
It is rarer to find a one-ounce nugget of gold than a five-carat diamond.
All of the gold ever mined would fit into a crate of 21 meters cubed.
Over 90 per cent of the world’s gold has been mined since the California Gold Rush.
One ounce of gold can be stretched to a length of 50 miles; the resulting wire would be just five microns wide.
The largest ever true gold nugget weighed 2316 troy ounces when found at Moliagul in Australia in 1869. It was called the “Welcome Stranger”.
The atomic number of gold is 79, which means there are 79 protons in the nucleus of every atom.
75% of the presently accounted for gold has been extracted since 1910, two-thirds since 1950.
In one hour, the world pours more steel than it has poured gold since the beginning of recorded history.
80% of the Earth’s gold is still in the ground.
There are 52,000 tons of unmined gold worth US$2 trillion.
Our bodies contain 0.2% of gold.
Each strand of hair may contain traces of 14 different elements including gold. Blood also contains trace amounts of gold.
3 Olympic swimming pools can hold all the gold ever mined in the world.
All the gold ever mined so far can fit in three 164 x 82 feet pools, 6 feet deep.
All the gold ever mined on Earth can fit into a 68ft cube. That’s about as tall as a 5 story building.
There are 202 gallons in a cubic yard. So if you completely fill a 5 gallon bucket up, it would take approximately 40 of those buckets to make up a yard.
Just under 50% of all gold ever mined has come from Witwatersrand in South Africa
Pure gold is hypoallergenic.
90% of the world’s gold mining has taken place since 1848 (the Sutter’s Mill discovery).
Gold is the most ductile (able to be drawn into a wire shape) material known to man.
Gold neither rusts or tarnishes, and will look the same for thousands of years.
The largest gold bullion coin is produced by Royal Canadian Mint. It is 99.999% pure gold. Weighs 100 kg. with a face value of $1,000,000.
Gold is rarer than diamonds, much rarer.
Image: Men panning gold, Lomen Bros., photographer, [between ca. 1900 and 1927]