Why is Gold such a valuable metal?
Of all the world’s precious metals, only gold combines beauty, workability, rarity, and virtual indestructibility. Not even diamonds combine these four characteristics. Gold bears its name from the Old English word for yellow, ‘geolu’. It is very soft and malleable, a small amount can be stretched into wire kilometres long, or hammered into a sheet so thin, that it covers many square meters. It is so rare that all the gold mined from the earth, during all of recorded history, could be contained in a cube 17 meters square. More steel is poured in one hour, than gold since the beginning of time. Since gold does not rust, tarnish, oxidise or corrode, it can virtually last forever. The coins found in ancient Greek ships, centuries old are as bright and shiny as the day they were cast. Gold is also an excellent conductor of thermal energy. It is used in many electronic processes to draw heat away from delicate instruments. For example, the main engine nozzle of the space shuttle uses a 35%
