Gold price fell 8.5% today to its lowest level in two years, reaching $1,361 an ounce. Skeptics often say that gold has no intrinsic value, but this precious metal is used in various industries. U.S. Global Investors put together the main areas where the gold is used, and the result is impressive.
Gold has been used in dentistry for almost 3,000 years. The first book on this part of medicine was published in 1530 and dentists have been using the precious metal for thousands of years to fill cavities and rotten teeth with gold leaf. Time passed and gold is still used for this purpose, even for tooth replacement.
For those that don’t know, the gold is an efficient conductor of electricity and is used in many electronic devices, including cell phones. According to the World Gold Council, one mobile phone contains up to 50 milligrams of the metal. The amount is small, but given the fact that there are produced almost one billion cell phones, the mobile phone industry uses 500-million-dollar worth of gold.
The precious metal is also found in most computers (desktops and laptops). The gold is used, among others, in the chips and on the motherboard. And because it works well as an electricity conductor, it allows the transmission of digital data from one device to another, quickly and accurately. In fact, only silver and bronze are better conductors than gold.
For more than 4,500 years the gold is used in medicine. The earliest use for medical purposes dates back to 2500 BC in China. Chinese doctors used pure gold to treat furuncles, varicose veins, ulcers and for removing the mercury from the skin. Currently it is used to treat arthritis (patients get are gold injections).
Gold foils are used to decorate buildings and monuments. One of the most opulent is St. Michael’s Cathedral in Kiev. But the largest gold structure in the world was used in India for the building of the Sripuram Temple. 1.5 tons of gold was used for the temple.
This metal is also used in space to stabilize temperatures and highlighting radiation. In fact, NASA protects its astronauts with gold: their helmet is covered with a gold sheet to protect against the harmful effects of sunlight.
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