Saw this video about gold, it’s chemical structure and malleability. I still don’t understand why gold is worth anything at all……
In: 236
Speaking about Western Europe, shiny non-useful metals started to be a thing around the Neolithic, when we first started farming.
(Not since before language, it’s quite modern).
They demonstrated you were set up and stable enough to be able to spend time and energy on stuff that had no survival value.
ie. it’s a status symbol.
All previously known metals tarnished so gold was thought to be special and became associated with the priest class especially.
It’s the beginning of class distinction and of ‘money’ exchange instead of collaboration and barter.
All this is still basically the case.
These days gold also has intrinsic value for use in electronics.
People keep mentioning how it looks pretty and it doesn’t oxidize but I don’t see a lot of people talking about the use of gold in microchips and other circuitry. Gold is very useful for high-tech devices.
Speaking about Western Europe, shiny non-useful metals started to be a thing around the Neolithic, when we first started farming.
(Not since before language, it’s quite modern).
They demonstrated you were set up and stable enough to be able to spend time and energy on stuff that had no survival value.
ie. it’s a status symbol.
All previously known metals tarnished so gold was thought to be special and became associated with the priest class especially.
It’s the beginning of class distinction and of ‘money’ exchange instead of collaboration and barter.
All this is still basically the case.
These days gold also has intrinsic value for use in electronics.
Speaking about Western Europe, shiny non-useful metals started to be a thing around the Neolithic, when we first started farming.
(Not since before language, it’s quite modern).
They demonstrated you were set up and stable enough to be able to spend time and energy on stuff that had no survival value.
ie. it’s a status symbol.
All previously known metals tarnished so gold was thought to be special and became associated with the priest class especially.
It’s the beginning of class distinction and of ‘money’ exchange instead of collaboration and barter.
All this is still basically the case.
These days gold also has intrinsic value for use in electronics.
Rarity makes things valuable. At one point, spices were some of the most valuable commodities on earth because they were so hard to come by. Now you can get it in the supermarket for next to nothing
Rarity makes things valuable. At one point, spices were some of the most valuable commodities on earth because they were so hard to come by. Now you can get it in the supermarket for next to nothing
Rarity makes things valuable. At one point, spices were some of the most valuable commodities on earth because they were so hard to come by. Now you can get it in the supermarket for next to nothing
Almost every element reacts readily with other materials to form compounds. This is why when you mine iron for instance, you don’t dig up long bars of iron, you dig up ore, that has iron and other elements combined that you have to separate out.
Gold, and a few other materials, don’t like to react with other materials quite as easily, this is why they are so shiny when you find them, and because they don’t react with oxygen, they don’t tarnish and they continue to stay shiny. This has caused Gold and other materials like it, to be seen as an aberration, or something to be considered special. This on top of its relative rarity, owning this wonderful shiny metal, is seen as a status symbol. (Not to mention that unlike most metals, it is not grey)
It is only in the modern era that we have seen industrial uses for a material with low reactivity, in things like spaceflight, and electronics to name a couple.
TLDR: Ooo shiny rock! I am special with shiny rock! A long line of traditions, and good with electronics.
Almost every element reacts readily with other materials to form compounds. This is why when you mine iron for instance, you don’t dig up long bars of iron, you dig up ore, that has iron and other elements combined that you have to separate out.
Gold, and a few other materials, don’t like to react with other materials quite as easily, this is why they are so shiny when you find them, and because they don’t react with oxygen, they don’t tarnish and they continue to stay shiny. This has caused Gold and other materials like it, to be seen as an aberration, or something to be considered special. This on top of its relative rarity, owning this wonderful shiny metal, is seen as a status symbol. (Not to mention that unlike most metals, it is not grey)
It is only in the modern era that we have seen industrial uses for a material with low reactivity, in things like spaceflight, and electronics to name a couple.
TLDR: Ooo shiny rock! I am special with shiny rock! A long line of traditions, and good with electronics.
Almost every element reacts readily with other materials to form compounds. This is why when you mine iron for instance, you don’t dig up long bars of iron, you dig up ore, that has iron and other elements combined that you have to separate out.
Gold, and a few other materials, don’t like to react with other materials quite as easily, this is why they are so shiny when you find them, and because they don’t react with oxygen, they don’t tarnish and they continue to stay shiny. This has caused Gold and other materials like it, to be seen as an aberration, or something to be considered special. This on top of its relative rarity, owning this wonderful shiny metal, is seen as a status symbol. (Not to mention that unlike most metals, it is not grey)
It is only in the modern era that we have seen industrial uses for a material with low reactivity, in things like spaceflight, and electronics to name a couple.
TLDR: Ooo shiny rock! I am special with shiny rock! A long line of traditions, and good with electronics.
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