Interesting Facts About Gold

There are many interesting facts about gold. The first mention of gold in the Bible is in Genesis 2:12: “…The gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there.”
Gold’s rarity, even in Biblical times, gave it a monetary value, which has made it useful in commercial transactions as well as a measure of wealth and prominence.

The colour and lustre of gold and its resistance to oxidation or tarnishing make it valuable for jewellery and ornamentation. The Bible often mentions kings and queens being paid in gold and silver.

Here are some more interesting facts about gold:

1. The element symbol for gold, Au, comes from the old Latin name for gold, aurum, which means “shining dawn” or “glow of sunrise.”

2. Gold is extremely ductile. A single ounce of gold (about 28 grams) can be stretched into a gold thread that is 5 miles (8 kilometres) long.

3. Gold is the most malleable element in the world. A single ounce of gold can be beaten into a 300-square-foot sheet.

4. Pure elemental gold is 24 karats, while 18-karat gold is 75 percent pure gold, 14-karat gold is 58.5 percent pure gold, and 10-karat gold is 41.7 percent pure gold.

5. Gold has many uses aside from its monetary and symbolic value. Among other applications, it is used in electronics, electrical wiring, dentistry, medicine, radiation shielding, and colouring glass.

6. High-purity metallic gold is odourless and tasteless. This makes sense since the metal is unreactive.

7. In Exodus 25:8–11, God commanded Moses to have the Israelites build a tabernacle, a portable structure also called a sanctuary, for Him. It is estimated that the tabernacle contained 2204.85 pounds of gold, 7584.38 pounds of silver, and 5338.00 pounds of copper.

8. King David set aside 100,000 talents (7,500,000 pounds) of gold and 1,000,000 talents (75,000,000 pounds) of silver for the building of the Temple (1 Chronicles 22:14). The lampstands, utensils, forks, bowls, pitchers, basins, cups, etc., of the Temple were all made of gold and silver, with very few made of copper (2 Kings 14:14). At today’s gold price ($2009/oz.), the gold in the Temple would be valued at roughly $240 billion today! Amazing!