Have you ever wondered why is gold so expensive? How come its value is immense? And why do we keep it stacked in bars?Let’s take a look at some of these aspects.  First of all gold is rare; therefore it was used by kings and pharaohs in order to show their value as supreme humans.

 

The mining for gold is very dangerous; it is a metal that will not dissolve in just anything. Most of the cases are done by using cyanide. That is why the process of extracting this metal is so toxic.

How do billionaires keep their valuable gold? Well they store it in banks and they keep it stacked in bars. Gold bars are called ingots. There are many ingot manufacturers out there. The fact that this metal is so rare and expensive lead to the creation of a certain measurement unit for it. It is called troy-ounce; while the original ounce is called the avoirdupois pound.

The troy once is heavier than a normal ounce. It measures 31.1034768 g. One troy ounce is equivalent to 1.09714 avoirdupois ounces. Now you know why you should be very careful when you buy an ingot. The manufacturer must tell you how much it weights in troy ounces. (The word troy leads back to Roman Empire and Troy) The standard quantity of gold per ingot is 400-troy-ounce (12.4 kg or 438.9 ounces). These are the most common bars and they are represented also in movies.

Gold is also traded over the exchanges. Also it can be used as a currency. Its symbol is XAU. What do the gold carats in jewelry represent? The carats (24k, 22k, 18k, 14k or 10k) measure the quantity of over metals in the alloys. For example: 24k means the gold is pure density. Starting from 22k the alloy contains other metals such as silver, palladium or copper. The most common alloys are formed with copper. That is why most of the low carats gold is reddish. But there can also be alloys made with nickel or palladium and therefore having a light green color. Gold can be used in food and has the E number 175!

Now you know some facts about gold!