Top 5 Interesting Facts About Gold

five-interesting-facts-about-gold

Top 5 Interesting Facts About Gold

January 9, 2012 158 view(s)

Whether you are a gold market investor, a gold coin collector or a gold jewelry enthusiast, you may think you know everything there is to know about the precious metal. However, there may be a lot about this valuable transition metal that you have never heard before or perhaps forgotten along the gold-collecting way. Consider these interesting facts about gold, then quiz your gold loving colleagues and friends.


1. Australian Kangaroo Coin


The Australian Kangaroo is the heaviest gold coin. This coin was first introduced in 1986, and since then, it has changed designs every year. A one-ounce Kangaroo is .9999 pure gold.


2. Historical Lexicon of Gold


The word gold comes from the word Gelo, an Anglo-Saxon word meaning yellow. Because gold is most often known as being yellow, the naming certainly makes sense, although today gold is also popular in rose-colored and white variations.


3. Gold is Dense


Gold is approximately 19.3 times heavier than water, making it one of the heaviest and densest minerals on Earth. Many find this counter-intuitive because it is such a soft material, and must be mixed into an alloy for most uses.


4. Gold Treasure


Each liter of seawater contains an average of 13 billionths of a gram of gold. The U.S. Department of Commerce explains that there are nearly 20 million tons of gold in the ocean in this diluted form. There is also an excessive amount of gold under the ocean floor, but no one has found a cost-effective way of mining it.


5. Toxic Gold


Gold is not toxic to humans if swallowed. Don't go taking a bite out of a gold coin, but gold does not cause problems in humans when ingested. In fact, some alcoholic beverages include gold particles, like the Swiss schnapps, Goldschlager. The amount of gold in a 750 mL bottle equates to approximately $5.97, depending on the current gold market.

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