Introduction
The word “commodity” is a term that means “an economic good” (Britannica, 2012) which can be either a product or a service that can be traded or exchanged. Commodities vary in their type, value, benefits, and quality. Of the numerous average commodities that exist throughout the globe, commodities holding greater values also have their own ranking as being precious commodities. Such precious commodities include gold, a precious metal that had been highly valued since ancient times and known for its beauty and scarcity. In this essay, I will write about gold as a commodity and I will discuss the various pros and cons related to this commodity.
The history and ancient uses of gold
Gold have had multiple uses since the past including its use as a currency, as a symbol of wealth and power, and as ornaments and decoration for people (Dunsby, Eckstein & Gaspar, 2010). Even during the present time, gold still holds similar functions to the ones it used to in the past. In fact, due to the evident advancement of technology and science throughout the centuries, additional functions and beneficial novel uses of gold were introduced into different scientific and industrial fields. For example, gold has been introduced in some fields of technology such as spacecraft industry, where its efficiency as a reflector of solar heat and radiation proved to be very useful for NASA to use (World Gold Council, 2012).
The properties of gold
Unlike most other metals, pure gold has the ability to remain unchanged for centuries without oxidizing and corroding (New Zealand Mint, 2012). This special ability exists because gold is a very un-reactive element, meaning that gold has the ability of resisting oxidation and corrosion (New Zealand ...
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UW Medicine. (2012). Gold treatment. Retrieved January 16, 2012 from: http://www.orthop.washington.edu/PatientCare/OurServices/Arthritis/Articles/GoldTreatment.aspx
World Gold Council. (2012). Automotive. Retrieved January 3, 2012, from gold.org: http://www.gold.org/technology/uses/automotive/
World Gold Council. (2012). Medicine. Retrieved January 3, 2012, from gold.org: http://www.gold.org/technology/uses/medicine/
World Gold Council. (2012). Space. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from gold.org: http://www.gold.org/technology/uses/space/
World Gold Council. (2012). Why gold?. Retrieved January 3, 2012, from gold.org: http://www.gold.org/technology/why_gold/
“Caravans of Gold”, a video by Basil Davison discovers and highlights numerous assets about gold and its prominent role in Africa. Additionally, the video examines some of the past and influential empires and their achievements. Davison discusses the history of Africa before the arrival of Europeans to demonstrate how Africa was already a well-flourished continent. “Caravans of Gold” also discusses many topics such as the Mali Empire, trading systems, and the use of gold which shows the audience of the video of how Africa was. In the long run, the aim of the video is to give the audience of the video an understanding of how the empires in Africa used its resource of gold to flourish.
These two passages “There’s Still Gold in These Hills” and “Letter From a Gold Miner” help the reader understand the history and process of gold mining in the US. Both passages give detailed information, specific instructions, and an interesting background about gold mining. These passages use different strategies to help the reader perceive the history and process. These strategies may include using specific dates of when the gold rush took place, information to help the reader picture the setting of where to find gold, and also teaches the process step by step.
Goldman, Marion. 1981. Gold Diggers and Silver Miners.. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.
I am going to discuss about the element known as gold in my assignment. To describe the element gold in simple terms, I can only say that it is an element (chemical element). This element is denoted by the symbol Au. It has an atomic number of seventy nine (79). I will describe quite a number of things concerning gold as an element. To begin with is:
The excitement for mining and excavating for minerals was sparked in prospectors and people looking for an easy way of profit in the 60’s.This second gold rush of speaks, despite most of the minerals they were after was more on the lines of copper, nickel, iron and the like, brought high hopes of those wanting to get rich fast. Though thousands had hope in making money from mining on their own, many excavators found little gold on their own efforts. Most needed to actually find work in mines. But, they almost got something even better. The v...
Rohrbough, Malcolm J. Days Of Gold: The California Gold Rush And The American Nation. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. eBook (EBSCOhost). Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
In the time between the Civil War and World War I, there was a great economic instability. Men wanted their money to be backed by precious metals, although, they were not in agreement on what precious metal that would be. For the most part, men of high status, who owned large companies, desired their dollar to be insured with gold and only gold. Men of humble institutions, factory workers, and laborers from small farms wanted their dollar to be backed by silver and gold. Both sides have sufficient reasons for their desire of silver, gold, or both to back their money.
“In the years which followed the gold discoveries, society was not stratified. Moral and religious principles were often disregarded, and all kinds of irregular situations could be found.”3
With the current fluctuations in currency value, it has become necessary to come up with a safer way of storing wealth. Inflation causes loss to creditors as well as debtors. To curb this loss, it is important to consider safer ways of investing your money such as purchasing precious metals. Among the most valuable metals in the current market are gold, platinum, silver and palladium bullion coins. To help in identifying the most suitable venture, here is an extensive evaluation of various bullions.
Let us briefly suppose that I recently bought a new gold watch. I was particularly happy that my watch was made of the finest, and rarest, gold in the area. Suppose, though, that one day I passed the factory where it was made, and ...
Hanes, C., & Rhode, P. W. (2013). Harvests and Financial Crises in Gold Standard America.
The use of a gold pan is one of the oldest and most simple forms of gold mining.( Colledge) The biggest thing to remember about the gold pan is that even though it may be relatively effective in catching gold, its main drawback is that it can only process so much material at one time. This is why the gold pan is not used as a commercial mining tool in the name of processing large amounts of material for pay. A gold pan may be used to get places that can only be reached on foot. But the material must have to be rich enough to make the time worth it if there is only a limited amount of material to be processed. The main use for a gold pan other than recreational purposes is to locate a area with gold bearing ground so that later on commercial mining equipment may be brought in to retrieve gold from a large area of ground
Gold, nothing can compare to this precious metal. A symbol of wealth and prosperity, it has been a value for explorers and adventurers and a lure for conquerors. Today it is vital to commerce and finance; popular in ornamentation, and increasing importance in technology.
There are many famous precious materials that the everyday person knows of. Gold, silver and in more recent times platinum are all known for their scarcity and desirability. However it is a crystalline form of carbon, not a precious metal, which carries more prestige than all three of them together. The diamond. Ever since the Kimberly diamond rush began in 1866, diamonds have played a very distinct role in our society. We are taught from an early age on that diamonds are extremely valuable due to their unrivalled beauty and apparent rarity.