Saw this video about gold, it’s chemical structure and malleability. I still don’t understand why gold is worth anything at all……
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If you’re looking for anything to represent value, gold is the ideal substance. It has exactly the properties needed to make it valuable.
1. It’s scarce but not too much. Imagine you used iron for coins, to buy a car you’d need to haul several tons of gold. Imagine you used something much scarcer than gold, to buy groceries your coins would be microscopic. Gold has a nearly ideal level of scarcity to be used as a reference for value.
2. It’s easily recognizable. It has a unique color that sets it apart from all other metals. There are simple tests to tell if something is gold or another golden metal like brass. If you have the technology to falsify a gold piece you also have the technology to detect the falsification.
3. It doesn’t corrode or degrade in any normal circumstances. You can bury it for years, you can burn the house down, your gold will still be intact.
4. It’s easy to work with. You can subdivide and join pieces of gold in a way you can’t do with other substances like gemstones, for instance.
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