Gold

A Little Big History

Gold is the metal of all other products of the

earth most eagerly sought after -- beautiful in appearance, soft and ductile in its nature, it possesses charms and attractions to the ignorant savage, as also to the most highly cultured.  No mind is either too high or too low to despise gold, either for its usefulness and beauty as ornaments, or for its intrinsic value as a purchasing power.  It has in the past, and will in the future, be the precursor of much good and evil.

Introduction

Chemistry

Reflective, malleable, and ductile Bright yellow Can easily be spread out into a thin sheet Heavy Soft

2.5 on the Mohs hardness scale

Physical Properties

Good conductor of heat and electricity Very unreactive

Does not oxidize Creates alloys with other metals

Used to make gold jewelry stronger (karat level) Atomic number 79 Transition metal Usually found as pure gold

Can be found in a tellurium compound

Chemical Properties

Hydrogen and Helium first form after The Big

Bang Big Bang nucleosynthesis

Condense into stars Stars begin the process of fission

Stellar nucleosynthesis Stars collide and explode to create new atoms

Supernova nucleosynthesis Neutron stars

Gold’s Formation

Nucleosynthesis

History

May have accumulated from the cloud of dust

and gas during earth’s formation Does not account for the amount of surface

gold Plausible theory: gold asteroid

Gold’s Formation

First gold ever formed- 13.3 billion years ago First gold on earth- 4 billion years ago

3.8 million years ago for asteroid theory 4600 BC- Earliest records of use by

civilizations (Egypt) 700 BC- Earliest use as a currency by the

Lydians (Turkey) 7th to 14th Century- Trans Saharan Gold Trade

Timeline

1492- Christopher Columbus “discovers”

America 1694- Bank of England keeps 15% of it’s

money in gold reserves 1792- The United States goes on the gold

standard 1849- California Gold Rush begins 1971- The whole world goes off the gold

standard

Timeline

7th to 14th Century Connected the Mediterranean and Saharan

Africa Later expanded to include: India, China and

Arabia High demand for gold, high supply of salt Salt could have been traded ounce for ounce Created wealth on both ends of the trade Created an exchange of ideas, increased

collective learning as the world became more interconnected.

Trans Saharan Trade

Trans Saharan Trade

Starts when Christopher Columbus sails to the

New World Others follow Gold is discovered and sent back to the

Spanish Throne Sailors are motivated by the possibility of

getting rich

Spanish Conquest

Gold funded future explorations Significant effect on trade, world economics Caused Spain to become the leading world

superpower Motivated other nations to explore the New

World

Spanish Conquest

Gold is discovered in 1848 in California Huge amounts of immigration to California

from in and out of the country 300,000 people

Helped to qualify California for statehood Made California the center for business in the

west Influx of gold made the United States significantly richer

California Gold Rush

Economy

A currency is based of a fixed amount of gold Gives paper money real value Paper money is essentially a promise note for

gold Known as representative money Gold was used for its durability, rarity, ease of

identification Often used in conjunction with silver Full gold standard: All of a governments money

is backed with gold

Gold Standard

Long term stability Amount of gold stays constant

Low amount of inflation Less uncertainty with international trade

Fixed trade rates between countries You can trade in money for gold!

Advantages

Unequal global distribution of gold Places a monetary limit on economic progress Limits the ability of the federal government to

control the amount of money based on economic progress In a recession, it helps to release more money

into the system Cannot print more money than gold you have

Short term price instability

Disadvantages

Increases deflation If a country wants to decline the value of it’s

currency on the gold standard, it will fall sharply, not take a steady decline

Disadvantages

US comes off the gold standard in 1933 1971- Richard Nixon declares the “petrodollar”

US persuades OPEC to sell all oil based on the US dollar

Takes the world off the gold standard

Gold Standard

Gold Standard

http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTtf5s2HFkA

Economy

Culture

King Midas

Greek Mythology

Hieroglyphics showed gold having the power

of the gods, bringing fertility and sunlight to their lands

Pharaohs consumed gold Often shown in Mythology Kings were buried with gold

Egypt

“City of Gold” Motivated many Europeans to search for gold

in the New World

El Dorado

Jewelry

Food

Things!

Current Uses

Use dates back thousands of years 2500 BC- Used to treat small pox, skin ulcers,

and measles in China Gold has been marketed to treat rheumatoid

arthritis Gold compounds can be used in the treatment

of cancer Used in implants at risk for infection Can treat facial nerve paralysis

Medicine

Plays a huge part in telecommunications,

transportation, information technology and other high performance and safety critical applications

Can conduct electricity well Does not erode Used in wires, microchips http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZXyT969V0Y

Electronics

Gold has influenced the world sinificantly.

Through it’s use as a medium of exchange gold influenced human interaction and collective learning. Now, gold is used in a variety of items, and enables us to have such things as: airbags, computers, and golden iPads. It also allows us to cure cancer and see into the depths of space. Gold is one of the most important elements used by humans, and the world would be significantly different without it.

Conclusion

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upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0d/California_Clipper_500.jpg/360px-California_Clipper_500.jpg http://gordon.wiki.ccsd.edu/file/view/trade_of_westafrica.gif/44211555/trade_of_westafrica.gif http://classicalwisdom.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/King_Midas.jpeg http://vanguardretailblog.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/gold-rush1.png?w=482&h=424 http://img2.grad.bg/300x225/egyptian_tomb.jpg https://

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http://www.goldalert.com/2011/03/gold-timeline-4600-b-c-now/ http://media-cache-ak1.pinimg.com/192x/41/e6/e4/41e6e4a45dd978f4357596419bf07ec2.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard#Theory http://www.gold.org/technology/uses/electronics/

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Bibliography