What do we use gold for?With gold being so treasured throughout the ages and with demand
for gold always steady, people often wonder what we use gold for. It is of course used as
money and a store of wealth, but what else is it used for, and what contributes to demand
for gold?
Gold has historically been used in jewelry, though in recent decades in the United States
this trend has been on the decline. The biggest consumers of gold are Modern day uses of
gold in industry.currently industry and dentistry, totalling 11% of of total demand.
Gold is suitable for industry because of its malleability, its resistance to corrosion, and
excellence in conducting electricity. These features make it an important component of
televisions and computers. Gold is also a durable electrical conductor for switches because
of its resistance to tarnishing.
In industry, some common uses for gold are:
Hair-thin gold wire connects circuits to semi-conductors in computers, and every time you
push a key on your computer it touches gold circuits that send data to the unit’s
microprocessor.
The cables that connect your tv and DVD player are gold coated to ensure proper conduction
and the relay of a clear signal.
Gold is also used in telephones, and helps change vocal vibrations into electirc current.
Gold coating is used on the contacts of your telephone cable and telephone jack, so that
you can remove the cable and use it in various jacks with no compromising of the sound
signal. This is because of gold doesn’t tarnish
or corrode.
It is also used widely as a coating for metal items that must be prevented from rusting.
Gold is also widely used in dentistry because of its malleability and resistance to
corrosion, and also because it is non-toxic to the body. Its softness is offset by the use
of platinum, silver, and copper in alloys. The demand for gold dental work is decreasing,
however, due to insurance companies’ reluctance to pay for gold rather than cheaper metals,
and the development of ceramic crowns which make gold often unnecessary.
What is gold used for? Common uses for gold include medical procedures.Gold has many
non-dental medical uses as well. Precision lasers used in medicine have gold coating on
their inside surfaces to control the beam’s focus. Gold vapor lasers are being used to
isolate and destroy cancer cells without harming neighbouring cells. And military medics
carry gold lasers that can cauterize wounds in the field, potentially saving the lives of
wounded soldiers. Doctors also inject tiny gold pellets into the prostate to fight prostate
cancer. Another example is the use of gold salts that have long been used to treat
rheumatoid arthritis.
These are just some examples, but we can see that gold is not only the most reliable form
of money and longterm wealth protection, it is also a useful commodity that is essential to
our modern and advancing way of life. This adds to the demand for gold and adds to its
prestige as a precious metal.
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