The Amazingly True Facts About Gold

The Amazingly True Facts About Gold

August 22, 2016 179 view(s)

• Largest known gold nugget ever found was in Central Victoria, Australia in 1869. It weighed 2,316 Troy ounces or 158 pounds and was named, “Welcome Stranger.” At today’s spot price of gold the Welcome Stranger would be worth over $3 million.

• China, the United States, and Australia are the 3 largest producers of gold in the world and together account for over a 1/3 of total gold production

• In 2007, Royal Canadian Mint produced a 220 pound, 99.999 percent gold coin at the mint in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The coin had a face value of $1 million Canada or $900,000 U.S. dollars. At the time it was the biggest and purest gold coin ever minted

• In 2012, Perth Mint produced a coin weighing one ton, measuring 80 cms wide and 12 cms deep. It is now the largest coin ever minted

• One ounce of pure gold can be hammered into a single 10.7 square yard sheet

• Gold is used to fill teeth, treat cancer, and rheumatoid arthritis because it is highly resistant to bacteria. Gold is also used in pregnancy tests and measuring the progression of HIV

• There are 10 Troy ounces of gold used per 10,000 smartphones

• An astronaut helmet visor is covered in a thin layer of gold to filter out the sun’s harmful rays

• Finding a one-ounce nugget of gold is rarer than finding a five-carat diamond

• All of the gold ever mined would fit into a crate the size of 27 yards cubed

• An ounce of gold can be stretched into a wire that would extend 50 miles. The wire would be .0005 centimeters

• According to Christian folklore, sailors wore gold earrings in hope that the gold would be used to pay for a proper Christian burial if they drowned and their bodies washed up on foreign soil

• The world’s oceans are estimated to hold up to 16,534 tons of gold

• Nearly all of the gold on Earth came from meteorites that bombarded Earth 200 million years after it was formed

• Au is the symbol for gold. It comes from the Latin word, Aurum meaning “shining dawn” or “glow of sunrise”

• Gold is the most malleable element

• Aurophobia is the fear of gold

• Dubai has gold bar dispensing machines

• After 25 years of service, Lego employees are rewarded with a 25-gram gold block

• Half of the gold in the world has come from Witwatersrand, South Africa

• There is about a milligram of gold in your body naturally. It is a conduit for sending electrical signals and maintenance for joints.