We haven’t mined 100% of the earth so how can we say that gold is rare? There could be massive reserves everywhere.
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tldr; gold is rare because gold comes from space, and gold is rare in space
There’s a much better reason than just “we haven’t found much”, and it has to do with the way gold is formed. Most atomic elements that you see on earth (like iron or oxygen or nitrogen etc) is formed through fusion, which happens in stars. Throughout the lifespan of the star, it constantly produces these elements, and eventually when the stars explode in a supernova, it spews out all of the stuff it’s made of throughout space. This process ejects a ton of these elements, and there are also a ton of stars, making these elements super common.
Eventually this stuff got to earth, or was floating around when the earth was formed.
Gold on the other hand isn’t formed through fusion. It can form during a supernova itself, but only a tiny tiny amount. Most of the gold in the universe is formed by an extremely rare process, when two neutron stars collide. This happens wayyyy less often than supernovas, so there is just less gold out there in general. The amount that gets to the earth is almost certainly less than the amount of say, iron or more common material.
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