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Definition: Gold |
GoldAdjective1. Made from or covered with gold; "gold coins"; "the gold dome of the Capitol"; "the golden calf"; "gilded icons". 2. Having the deep slightly brownish color of gold; "long aureate (or golden) hair"; "a gold carpet". Noun1. Coins made of gold. 2. A deep yellow color; "an amber light illuminated the room"; "he admired the gold of her hair". 3. A soft yellow malleable ductile (trivalent and univalent) metallic element; occurs mainly as nuggets in rocks and alluvial deposits; does not react with most chemicals but is attacked by chlorine and aqua regia. 4. Great wealth; "Whilst that for which all virtue now is sold, and almost every vice--almighty gold"--Ben Jonson. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "gold" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
Etymology: Gold \Gold\ (g[=o]ld), noun. [Anglo-Saxon gold; akin to Dutch goud, Old Saxon & German gold, Icelandic gull, Swedish & Danish guld, Gothic gul[thorn], Russ. & Old Slavic zlato; probably akin to English yellow. See Yellow, and compare to Gild, transitive verb]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Bible | Gold (1.) Heb. zahab, so called from its yellow colour (Ex. 25:11; 1 Chr. 28:18; 2 Chr. 3:5). (2.) Heb. segor, from its compactness, or as being enclosed or treasured up; thus precious or "fine gold" (1 Kings 6:20; 7:49). (3.) Heb. paz, native or pure gold (Job 28:17; Ps. 19:10; 21:3, etc.). (4.) Heb. betzer, "ore of gold or silver" as dug out of the mine (Job 36:19, where it means simply riches). (5.) Heb. kethem, i.e., something concealed or separated (Job 28:16,19; Ps. 45:9; Prov. 25:12). Rendered "golden wedge" in Isa. 13:12. (6.) Heb. haruts, i.e., dug out; poetic for gold (Prov. 8:10; 16:16; Zech. 9:3). Gold was known from the earliest times (Gen. 2:11). It was principally used for ornaments (Gen. 24:22). It was very abundant (1 Chr. 22:14; Nah. 2:9; Dan. 3:1). Many tons of it were used in connection with the temple (2 Chr. 1:15). It was found in Arabia, Sheba, and Ophir (1 Kings 9:28; 10:1; Job 28:16), but not in Palestine. In Dan. 2:38, the Babylonian Empire is spoken of as a "head of gold" because of its great riches; and Babylon was called by Isaiah (14:4) the "golden city" (R.V. marg., "exactress," adopting the reading _marhebah_, instead of the usual word _madhebah_). Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary. |
Dream Interpretation | If you handle gold in your dream, you will be unusually successful in all enterprises. For a woman to dream that she receives presents of gold, either money or ornaments, she will marry a wealthy but mercenary man. To find gold, indicates that your superior abilities will place you easily ahead in the race for honors and wealth. If you lose gold, you will miss the grandest opportunity of your life through negligence. To dream of finding a gold vein, denotes that some uneasy honor will be thrust upon you. If you dream that you contemplate working a gold mine, you will endeavor to usurp the rights of others, and should beware of domestic scandals. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Literature | Gold By the ancient alchemists, gold represented the sun, and silver the moon. In heraldry, gold is expressed by dots. All he touches turns to gold. It is said of Midas that whatever he touched turned to gold. (See Rainbow.) "In manu illius plumbum aurum flebat." - Petronius. Gold All that glitters is not gold. (Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice, ii. 7.) "All thing which that schineth as the gold is nought gold." Chaucer: Canterbury Tales, 12,890. "Non teneas aurum totum quod splendet ut aurum Nec pulchrum pomum quodlibet esse bonum." Alanus de Insulis: Parabolæ. He has got the gold of Tolosa. His ill gains will never prosper. Cæpio, the Roman consul, in his march to Gallia Narbonensis, stole from Tolosa (Toulouse) the gold and silver consecrated by the Cimbrian Druids to their gods. When he encountered the Cimbrians both he and Mallius, his brother-consul, were defeated, and 112,000 of their men were left upon the field (B.C. 106). The gold of Nibelungen. Brought ill-luck to every one who possessed it. (Icelandic Edda.) (See Fatal Gifts.) Mannheim gold. A sort of pinchbeck, made of copper and zinc, invented at Mannheim, in Germany. Mosaic gold is "aurum musivum, " a bi-sulphuret of tin used by the ancients in tesselating. (French, mosaique.). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Mining | A. An isometric mineral, native 4[Au] ; commonly alloyed with silver or copper, possibly with bismuth, mercury, or the platinum-group metals; metallic yellow; soft and malleable; sp gr, 19.3 if pure; occurs in hydrothermal veins with quartz and various sulfides; disseminated in submarine massive effusives and in placers or nuggets, fines, and dust. b. Found in nature as the free metal and in tellurides; very widely distributed. Symbol: Au. Occurs in veins and alluvial deposits; often separated from rocks and other minerals by sluicing and panning operations. Good conductor of heat and electricity. Used in coinage, jewelry, decoration, dental work, plating, and for coating certain space satellites. It is a standard for monetary systems in many countries.Syn:palladium gold. (references) |
Slang | Adjective. Source: Unknown. Definition: That somthing is really good or great. Context: Used when things are really good. Social Source: Riley hall pool junkies. Source: Compiled by The University of Oregon. (additional references) |
Statistics | The chemical element:atomic number 79. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Gold is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Au (L. aurum) and atomic number 79. A soft, shiny, yellow, heavy, malleable, ductile (trivalent and univalent) transition metal, gold does not react with most chemicals but is attacked by chlorine and aqua regia. The metal occurs mainly uncombined as nuggets in rocks and alluvial deposits and is one of the coinage metals. Gold is used as a monetary standard for many nations and is also used in jewelry, dentistry, and in electronics.
General Name, Symbol, Number Gold, Au, 79 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 11 (IB), 6 , d Density, Hardness 19300 kg/m3, 2.5 Appearance Metallic yellow Atomic Properties Atomic weight 196.96655 amu Atomic radius (calc.) 135 (174) pm Covalent radius 144 pm van der Waals radius 166 pm Electron configuration [Xe]44f14 5d10 6s1 e- 's per energy level 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 1 Oxidation states (Oxide) 3, 1 (amphoteric) Crystal structure Cubic face centered Physical Properties State of matter solid (__) Melting point 1337.33 K (1947.52 °F) Boiling point 3129 K (5173 °F) Molar volume 10.21 ×1010-3 m3/mol Heat of vaporization 334.4 kJ/mol Heat of fusion 12.55 kJ/mol Vapor pressure 0.000237 Pa at 1337 K Speed of sound 1740 m/s at 293.15 K Miscellaneous Electronegativity 2.54 (Pauling scale) Specific heat capacity 128 J/(kg*K) Electrical conductivity 45.2 106/m ohm Thermal conductivity 317 W/(m*K) 1st ionization potential 890.1 kJ/mol 2nd ionization potential 1980 kJ/mol Most Stable Isotopes
iso NA Longest t½ is 186.09 d (Au-195) 197Au 100% Au is stable with 118 neutrons SI units & STP are used except where noted.
Notable characteristics
Gold is a metallic element that exhibits a yellow color en mass but can be black, ruby, or purple when finely divided. It is arguably the most beautiful of all the elements and is the most malleable and ductile metal known. In fact, 1 oz. of gold can be hammered into a sheet that covers 300 square feet. A soft metal, gold is often alloyed with other metals to give it more strength.Gold is also a good conductor of heat and electricity and is not affected by air and most reagents. It is quite chemically unalterable by heat, moisture, and most corrosive agents and therefore is well suited for its use in coin and jewelry.
The color of solid gold as well as of the intensely colored, often purple, colloidal solutions that can be made from it is caused by the fact that the plasmon frequency of this element lies in the visible range, which causes red and yellow light to be reflected and blue light to be absorbed. Native gold contains usually eight to ten per cent silver, but often much more. As the amount of silver increases, the color becomes whiter and the specific gravity lower.
Alloys with copper yield a redder metal, alloys with iron are green, aluminum alloys are purple. Jewelry made with combinations of colored gold is sold in the western United States to the tourist trade as Black Hills gold.
Common oxidation states of gold include +1 and +3.
Applications
Pure gold is too soft for ordinary use and is hardened by alloying with silver and copper. Gold and its many alloys are most often used in jewelry, coinage and as a standard for monetary exchange in many countries. Because of its superior electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion and other desirable combinations of physical and chemical properties, gold also emerged in the late 20th century as an essential industrial metal. Other uses;
Since it is a good reflector of both infrared and is inert light, it is used for the protective coatings on many artificial satellites.
- Gold performs critical functions in computers, communications equipment, spacecraft, jet aircraft engines, and a host of other products.
- The high electrical conductivity and resistance to oxidation of gold has led to its widespread use as thin layers electroplated on the surface of electrical connectors to ensure a good, low-resistance connection.
- Like silver, gold can form a hard amalgam with mercury, and is sometimes used for dental fillings.
- Colloidal gold (gold nanoparticles) is an intensely colored solution that is currently studied in many labs for medical and biological applications. It is also the form used as gold paint on ceramics prior to firing.
- Chlorauric acid is used in photography for toning the silver image.
- Disodium aurothiomalate is a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (administered intramuscularly).
- The gold isotope Au-198, (half-life: 2.7 days) is used in some cancer treatments and for treating other diseases.
- Gold is used as a coating enabling biological material to be viewed under a scanning electron microscope.
- Gold is often symbolic for the highest or best achievement. Like a blue ribbon, a gold medal is the highest award in the Olympics and many other competitions.
History
Gold (Sanskrit Jval; Anglo-Saxon gold; Latin aurum all meaning "gold") has been known and highly valued since ancient times. Egyptian hieroglyphs from 2600 BC describe the metal and gold is mentioned several times in the Old Testament.Gold has long been considered one of the most precious metals, and its value has been used as the standard for many currencies (known as the gold standard) in history. Gold has been used as a symbol for purity, value, royalty, and particularly roles that combine these properties (see gold album).
The primary goal of the alchemists was to produce gold from other substances, such as lead - Though they were never successful at this attempt, the alchemists promoted an interest in what can be done with substances, and this laid a foundation for today's chemistry. Many competitions award a gold medal to the winner, silver to the second-place finisher, and bronze to the third. The largest gold depository in the world is the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank.
Value
Like other precious metals, gold is measured by troy weight and when it is alloyed with other metals the term carat is used to indicate the amount of gold present with 24 carats being pure gold.Historical gold was used to back currency in a system known as the gold standard in which one unit of currency was equivalent to a certain amount of gold.
For a very long time the value of gold was set by the United States at $20.67 per troy ounce but in 1934 the value of gold was fixed at $35.00 per troy ounce. Because of a gold crisis, on March 17, 1968, a two-tiered pricing scheme was established whereby gold was still used to settle international accounts at the old $35.00 per troy ounce but the price of gold on the private market was allowed to fluctuate, this two-tiered pricing system was abandoned in 1975 when the price of gold was allowed to fluctuate. Since 1968 the price of gold on the open market has widely fluctuated reaching $620/troy oz. in January 1980 but later dropped to $410/troy oz by January 1990.
Because of its use as a reserve store of value, the possession of gold is sometimes restricted or banned. Within the United States, the private possession of gold except as jewelry and coin collecting was banned between 1933 and 1975.
As a tangible investment gold is often held as part of a portfolio because over the long term gold has an extensive history of maintaining its value. However, gold becomes particularly desirable in times of extremely weak confidence and during hyperinflation because gold maintains its value even as fiat money becomes worthless.
Futures contracts based on gold currently trade on the COMEX (Commodity Exchange) which is a subsidiary of the New York Mercantile Exchange. Speculation about the future price of gold is carried on here.
Occurrence
Due to its relative chemical inertness, gold often is found as the native metal, occasionally as large nuggets, but usually as minute flakes in some minerals, quartz veins, slate, metamorphic rocks and in alluvial deposits that originated from these sources. Gold is widely distributed, is very often associated with the minerals quartz or pyrite and is combined with tellurium in the minerals petzite, calaverite and sylvanite. Gold is extracted from alluvium by techniques of placer mining. South Africa is the source for about two-thirds of the world's gold supply (mines in South Dakota and Nevada supply two-thirds of gold used in the United States).Gold is extracted from ores through the use of cyanide, amalgam, and smelting. Refining of the metal is frequently accomplished by electrolysis. This metal occurs in sea water at 0.1 to 2 mg/ton depending on sample location. However, there is no profitable method for recovering gold from sea water yet.
Although gold is important to industry and the arts, it also retains a unique status among all commodities as a long-term store of value. It has been estimated that all the gold in the world that has ever been refined could form a single cube 20 m (60 ft) on a side.
Compounds
Auric chloride (AuCl3) and chlorauric acid (HAuClAuCl4) are the most common compounds of gold. Although gold is a noble metal it can form many compounds
- It dissolves in Aqua regia to form the AuCl4- ion
- Gold halides (F,Cl,Br,I)
- Gold chalcogenides (O, S, Se,Te)
- Gold cluster compounds
Isotopes
There is only one stable isotope of gold, and 18 radioisotopes with Au-195 being the most stable with a half-life of 186 days.
Precautions
The human body does not absorb this metal well and compounds of gold are not normally very toxic. Liver and kidney damage has, however, been reported for up to 50% of arthritis patients treated with gold-containing drugs.
External links
Gold is also a color, a shade of yellow.
- WebElements.com - Gold
- EnvironmentalChemistry.com - Gold
- Gold as non-government issued electronic money
- Gold prices and economy
In the music industry, Gold is a certification for a certain number of units shipped. In the US, it is awarded by the RIAA (see RIAA certification) and stands for 500,000 records sold.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Gold."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Gold, released in 2001, is a record by Ryan Adams in the alternative country genre. It is the follow-up to Heartbreaker.
Track list:
- New York, New York
- Firecracker
- Answering Bell
- La Cinega Just Smiled
- The Rescue Blues
- Somehow, Someday
- When The Stars Go Blue
- Nobody Girl
- Sylvia Plath
- Enemy Fire
- Gonna Make You Love Me
- Wild Flowers
- Harder Now That It's Over
- Touch, Feel and Lose
- Tina Toledos Street Walking Blues
- Good Night Hollywood Blvd
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Gold (album)."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The description Gold Album is applied to recorded music albums that have sold a minimum number of copies.A larger number of sales qualifies for the award of a Platinum Album. Similar awards are also less commonly quoted for individual recordings (singles) and videos.
The number of sales required for these awards vary depending on the population of the territory in which the album is released. Normally they are awarded only to albums released at least nationally, and are awarded individually for each country in which the album is sold.
The original 'gold record' awards were presented to artists by their own record companies to publicise the achievement of one million sales. For example, Elvis Presley received one of these for the single Hound Dog in 1956. However, several different thresholds have been in use at different times and places for both album and single awards. Some of these were based on units sold and others on the value of retail sales.
This has led to controversy over how to determine the placings for the biggest selling artists of all time, and claims that some gold albums should be disregarded or even retrospectively withdrawn although they were legitimately awarded at the time.
In the USA, gold (and platinum etc) album awards have been certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) since 1958. The RIAA issues trophies to the artists to reflect their achievement. Since the most recent rule change in 1975 a gold album has been awarded for 500,000 album sales. The platinum album award was added in 1976, and at one million sales exactly matches the original concept of a 'gold record', although with the increased market it is arguably less of an achievement. Other awards have been added subsequently. For other awards and thresholds see RIAA certification.
In Australia, gold and platinum albums are certified by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). In 2003 the thresholds for albums are 35,000 sales for gold, and 70,000 for platinum. For music videos including Audio Visual DVDs gold represents 7,500 sales, platinum 15,000.
In Ireland, awards are certified by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). In 2003 the thresholds for albums are gold 7,500 sales and platinum 10,000. For singles three categories are recognised; Silver is 7,500 sales, gold 10,000 and platinum 15,000.
In Germany, the recognitions are given by the record labels, who report to the IFPI Deutschland/Bundesverband Phono. The thresholds for Gold are 150,000 albums or 300,000 singles; To get Platinum, 300,000 albums or 500,000 singles have to have been sold. (2003)
External link
List of national recording industry associations
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Gold album."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard unit of currency is a fixed weight of gold or is kept at the value of a fixed rate of gold with paper money convertible on demand into gold. Under such a system money represents gold: coins are made of the corresponding amount of gold, and/or coins and notes represent an amount of gold held in a vault somewhere. Rates of exchange between countries were fixed by their currency values in gold.
Most financially important countries were on the gold standard from 1900 until it was suspended in many nations during World War I (notably in the United States it was not suspended during the war). It was reintroduced partially in 1925 as the Gold Exchange Standard but finally abandoned in 1931. In Great Britain it was Winston Churchill in his role as Chancellor of the Exchequer that was responsible for initiating the 1925 return.
In an internal gold-standard system, which implies the use of an international gold standard, gold coins circulate as legal tender or paper money is freely convertible into gold at a fixed price.
In an international gold-standard system, which may exist in the absence of any internal gold standard, gold or a currency that is convertible into gold at a fixed price is used as a means of making international payments. Under such a system, exchange rates rise above or fall below the fixed mint rate by more than the cost of shipping gold from one country to another, large inflows or outflows occur until the rates return to the official level.
If all circulating money can be represented by the appropriate amount of gold, then this is known as a 100% reserve gold standard, or a full gold standard. Some believe there is no other form of gold standard, since on any "partial" gold standard the value of circulating representative paper in a free economy will always reflect the faith that the market has in that note being redeemable for gold. Others, such as some modern advocates of supply-side economics contest that so long as gold is the accepted unit of account then it is a true gold standard.
The commitment to maintain gold convertibility tightly restrains credit creation, because doing so would be to commit fraud. Credit creation by banking entities under a gold standard threatens the convertibility of the notes they have issued, and consequently leads to undesirable gold outflows from that bank. This is caused when people realise that the bank notes are, in a sense "oversold", and go to redeem their notes for their printed face value in gold - if they are quick enough.
Hence, notes circulating in any "partial" gold standard will either be redeemed for their face value of gold (which would be higher than it's actual value) - this constitutes a bank "run"; or the market value of such notes will be viewed as less than a gold coin representing the same amount.
Theory
In classical economics imbalances in international trade were rectified automatically by the gold standard. A country in deficit would have to pay its debts in gold thus depleting gold reserves and would therefore have to reduce its money supply. The resulting fall in demand would reduce imports and the lowering of prices would boost exports; thus theoretically the deficit would be rectified.
In practice however this could seriously destabilise the economy of countries which ran a trade deficit, because people tended to make a run on the bank to retrieve their money before gold reserves were exported, thus causing banks to collapse and wiping out savings. Bank runs and failiures were a common feature of life during the period when the gold standard was the established economic system.
The gold standard limits the power of governments to cause price inflation by excessive issue of paper currency, although there is evidence that before World War I monetary authorities did not expand or contract the supply of money when the country incurred a gold outflow. Theoretically it also creates certainty in international trade by providing a fixed pattern of exchange rates.
Thus, the gold standard is supported by many advocates of classical economics, monetarism, Objectivism, and even proponents of libertarianism.
However, the disadvantages are that it may not provide sufficient flexibility in the supply of money, because the supply of newly mined gold is not closely related to the growing needs of the world economy for a commensurate supply of money. A single country may also not be able to isolate its economy from depression or inflation in the rest of the world. In addition, the process of adjustment for a country with a payments deficit can be long and painful whenever an increase in unemployment or decline in the rate of economic expansion occurs.
Opponents of the gold standard such as Keynesianists argue that the gold standard creates deflation which intensifies recessions as people are unwilling to spend money as prices fall, thus creating a downward spiral of economic activity. The gold standard also removes the abillity of governments to fight recessions by increasing the money supply to boost economic growth.
Opponents of the gold standard thus argue that an expanding economy with a supply of gold that increases more slowly than the economy expands would cause a tiny, but steady, deflation. It is believed by gold standard opponents that this gradual deflation would throw the economy into recession.
No mainstream economist today advocates a return to the gold standard.
However, a near century-long period of deflation has already occurred in Britain while on the Gold Standard during the 1800s. During that century the price, in gold, of goods and services in Britain was halved. The gradual century of deflation did not cause a century of recession. Quite the contrary, the British empire during that period was the undisputed economic power of the world.
However critics of the gold standard say that this may well have been due to the fact that Britain was able to import cheap raw materials from the Empire and manufacture goods more cheaply than its competitors, allowing it to run trade surplusses.
History
The Sumerians, as part of their development of a standard of weights and measures, placed the royal stamp on each piece of gold to guarantee that it was the same amount as every other similarly stamped gold piece. They simply agreed that this was worth a bushel of wheat - the value was never in the gold. For each amount of gold issued by the king, a certain amount of wheat is kept in reserve in order to ensure that gold has some value. This ensures that the value of the gold with respect to wheat did not change - no inflation with respect to wheat. When the gold is returned to the king, it is redeemed with the wheat that it represented. This, in effect, is a "wheat standard".
The problem with the idea of a gold standard is that it is similar to the creation of a "dollar standard" - creating a new currency to use, while holding a reserve of dollars in the bank to give the new currency some legitimacy. The problem is that the commodity held in reserve was merely a unit of exchange and derives its value mainly from its previous use as currency. The original backing of the currency is lost.
The gold standard was first put into operation in Great Britain in 1821. In the full internal and international gold standard of the pre-1914 world, gold could be exchanged for equal weights of gold coinage, coins could be melted down for their gold content, and gold coin or bullion could be exported freely.
Traditionally, the gold standard was not limited to one or two countries; it was an international system. With gold as money, international trade was conducted much more smoothly than it is now. With a gold standard, or indeed, with any money based on specie, traders and travellers need not constantly be concerned with losses they may suffer from exchange rate fluctuations. This also means that in a worldwide gold or specie standard, poor countries are not at the whim of international currency speculation. Those living in poor countries can instead depend, from year to year, on the value of their exports, the cost of their imports, and interest on their debts. With a specie or gold standard, poor countries are not at the whim of the currency manipulation of governments of more wealthy nations.
The reign of the full gold standard was short, lasting only from the 1870s to the outbreak of World War I. In the post-World War I period, banknotes were issued fractionally backed by gold (i.e. gold reserves were a fixed proportion of the value of the notes in circulation). By 1928, however, both the internal and international gold standards had been virtually re-established, although gold coins were no longer in general circulation in most countries, and more extensive use was made of the gold exchange standard than before 1914. The gold standard collapsed again during the Great Depression of the 1930s. By 1937 not a single country remained on the gold standard.
The post-World War II system agreed on at Bretton Woods was one in which most exchange rates were pegged either to the dollar or to gold. In 1958 a type of gold standard was re-established in which the major European countries provided for the free convertibility of their currencies into gold and dollars for international payments. There was no restoration of an internal gold standard.
The United States
The United States dollar started on a bimetallic standard, which was effectively a silver standard, and switched to a gold standard in 1901 (see Gold Standard Act). Starting in 1933, U.S. currency was no longer directly convertible by individuals to gold and the possession of gold by individuals for investment purposes was made illegal. Transfers of gold were still used to settle liabilities between central banks.
Starting in the 1950s, the United States began running persistent trade imbalances which created liabilities in the United States to other central banks, and beginning in the early 1960s, the United States no longer had sufficient gold to cover liabilities to other nations. To help alleviate this problem, the United States Congress on March 18, 1968 repealed the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency. However US dollars could still be converted to gold. This became a serious problem in the early 1970s when a lack of confidence in the U.S. dollar led to mass redemptions of US dollars for gold. As a result, the United States went off the gold standard on August 15, 1971 when President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value.
Nixon's move to cease allowing foreign Governments to redeem dollars for precious metal was the final act in a 150-year-long 'transfer' of the citizen's gold and silver to the Federal Government's vault. This allowed the U.S. Government to have much more freedom in determining the rate of printing and volume in circulation of its fiat currency.
Nixon's move also denatured the Bretton Woods system and left the International Monetary Fund, Bank For International Settlements and World Bank all without any foundation for global monetary policy other than to rely on the US dollar as a reserve currency. This was seen as an imperial move by many, removing any and all semblance that these institutions were mediators or regulators of money markets. They were, in effect, marketing agencies for the US dollar and a system in which other currency was necessarily enslaved to it.
In the words of John Kenneth Galbraith, in his 1975 book : Money: whence it came, where it went: "There is a notable asymmetry in the relation of the United States to the rest of the trading world. The United States is sufficiently self-contained in its economic relations with other countries so it can go far, given the will and wisdom, to stabilize its own prices. But if prices in the United States are rising, there are few other countries that can avoid the resulting impact. They can have more inflation than the United States; They cannot have less."
Alan Greenspan at around the same time spoke of the power of the gold standard to restrain the inflation caused by governments.
United Kingdom
Because the British Pound Sterling was based on the gold standard, throughout the 19th century there was a steady small deflation, which is a gradual increase in the buying power of gold. During the 19th century the rate of growth of the British economy was around 5% p.a., but the gold supply only expanded by around 3-4% p.a. during that time. This meant that as time went on the same weight of gold had more purchasing power. As a result of this effect, by the end of the 19th century the gold price of goods in Britain was around half what they cost at the beginning of the century. Britain, far from suffering a continuous recession, was unarguably the worlds strongest economy during the 19th century while on the gold standard.
Gold as a reserve today
Today gold is often kept as a hedge against the US dollar or other G8 "hard currencies".
In addition to other precious metals, it has three major competitors as a store of value: the US dollar itself, the Chinese yuan which is not (as of 2003) traded on markets and has similar self-sufficiency advantages as the USA did in '75, and real estate (which of course is dependent on property rights recognized in a country). None of these has the stability of gold had, thus there are occasionally calls to restore the gold standard, or to move to a new standard based on ecological yield of natural capital, e.g. Global Resource Banking. Given the difficulty of assessing such standards as compared to the simple weighing of gold, it seems not likely they can really take hold.
Some privately issued modern currencies (such as e-gold) are backed by gold bullion.
Tantalum is also suggested as an alternative money supply standard, since even in an economy based on molecular engineering it would remain extremely difficult to forge - and remain quite easy to hide.
Related articles
- International Monetary Fund
External Links
- http://www.gata.org
- http://wanniski.com/searchbase/gp1.htm
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Gold standard."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Operation Gold was a joint operation conducted by the American CIA and the British Secret Intelligence Service to tap into landline communication of the Soviet Army headquarters in Berlin using a tunnel into the Soviet-occupied zone. This was a much more complex variation of the earlier Operation Silver project.The covert construction of a 1,476 foot tunnel twenty feet under the world’s most heavily patrolled border to intersect a series of cable less than eighteen inches below a busy street was an exceptional engineering challenge. Work began in August, 1954 and was completed on 25 February the following year.
The tunnel entrance was concealed as a new CIA radio intercept site. Spoil was stored in warehouses built for the purpose. The intercepts were not decoded, but were read in plain text due to an electronic echo produced by the Soviet equipment.
Interestingly, the Soviets knew of the tunnel due to George Blake, a “mole” in the British intelligence apparatus. To protect this operative, and thinking their codes were secure, the Soviets allowed the tunnel to operate until 21 April, 1956. when the tunnel was dramatically "discovered" by an outraged Soviet commander who showed it to the world’s press.
Directly under the border was a steel door marked “Entry Forbidden by the Commanding General.” The tunnel was hailed throughout the Free World as an engineering triumph. It was called Operation Stopwatch in British documents.
Operation Gold was also the codename for support of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney by the Australian armed forces. The military provided aviation, security and explosive ordnance disposal units to help the games run smoothly.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Operation Gold."
Synonyms: GoldSynonyms: aureate (adj), gilded (adj), gilt (adj), golden (adj), amber (n), atomic number 79 (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Covering | Veneer, facing; overlay; plate, silver plate, gold plate, copper plate; engobe; ormolu; Sheffield plate; pavement; coating, paint; varnish; (resin) a; plating, barrel plating, anointing; Verb: enamel; epitaxial deposition, vapor deposition; ground, whitewash, plaster, spackel, stucco, compo; cerement; ointment; (grease). |
Credulity | Phrase: the wish the father to the thought; credo quia impossibile; all is not gold that glitters; no es oro todo lo que reluce; omne ignotum pro magnifico. |
Importance | Attach importance to, ascribe importance to, give importance to; Noun: value, care for, set store upon, set store by; mark; mark with a white stone, underline; write in italics, put in italics, print in italics, print in capitals,print in large letters, put in large type, put in letters. of gold; accentuate, emphasize, lay stress on. |
Inexpedience | Good, good as gold; excellent; better; superior; above par; nice, fine; genuine; (true). |
Admirable, estimable; praiseworthy; (approve); pleasing; couleur de rose, precious, of great price; costly; (dear); worth its weight in gold, worth a Jew's eye; priceless, invaluable, inestimable, precious as the apple of the eye. | |
Money | Precious metals, gold, silver, copper, bullion, ingot, nugget. |
Gold-backed currency, gold standard, silver standard. | |
Double eagle, eagle; Federal currency, fractional currency, postal currency; Federal Reserve Note, United States Note, silver certificate, gold certificate; long bit, short bit; moss, nickel, pile, pin money, quarter, red cent, roanoke, rock; seawan, seawant; thousand dollars, grand. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Brilliant gold taps, virginal white marble, a seat carved from ebony, a cistern full of chanel number five, and a flunky handing me pieces of raw silk toilet roll (Trainspotting; writing credit: Irvine Welsh; John Hodge) Brilliant gold taps, virginal white marble, a seat carved from ebony, a cistern full of Chanel No. 5, and a flunky handing me pieces of raw silk toilet roll (Trainspotting; writing credit: John Hodge. Based on the novel by Irvine Welsh.) All of you won gold, silver and bronze in the Moron Olympics (101 Dalmatians; writing credit: John Hughes) If nagging were an Olympic sport, my Aunt Voula would win a gold medal (My Big Fat Greek Wedding; writing credit: Nia Vardalos) Whoever has the gold makes the rules (Aladdin; writing credit: Roger Allers; Ron Clements) | |
Lyrics | As we walk in fields of gold (Fields Of Gold; performing artist: Sting) There were moments of gold (It's all coming back to me now; performing artist: Celine Dion) And if you win you get this shiny fiddle made of gold ("The Devil Went Down to Georgia"; performing artist: Charlie Daniels Band) Seekin' my fame and fortune, lookin' for a pot of gold. (LODI; performing artist: Creedence Clearwater Revival) Is like a lust for gold (Something So Strong; performing artist: Crowded House) | |
Clever | Golden Rule: Those who have the gold rule. (references; author: unknown) A lost ounce of gold may be found, a lost moment of time never. (references; author: unknown) New friends are silver; old friends are gold. Always make new friends, but don't forget the old. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Gold (1974) Ein Toter Taucher nimmt kein Gold (1974) Penny Gold (1973) The Six Million Dollar Man: Solid Gold Kidnapping (1973) Gold Diggin' Woodpecker (1972) | |
Song Titles | Band Of Gold (performing artist: Freda Payne) Gold (performing artist: John Stewart) Heart of Gold (performing artist: Neil Young) Gamble Gold (Robin Hood) (performing artist: Steeleye Span) Fields Of Gold (performing artist: Sting) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | A dinner is set up on black, gold-rimmed dishes on a black tabletop. There is a mug, a bowl of cut strawberries, and a plate full of green beans, small potatoes and roast beef. A dark multicolored napkin with gold thread is curved around the plate. See also AV-3905. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |  | From an overhead angle, a large black bowl of various colored beans and legumes sits in the center of a dark wooden table. Next to the bowl are a gold napkin and a fork. Behind the bowl are several mounds of different beans. The white lettering above the bowl reads "Eat beans and other legumes often". Shot on 4x5 format. This was used in the 1989 calendar "Eat for Good Health" January 1989. See artwork: PV-19. Credit: Bill Branson (photographer). |
 | Colorized transmission electron micrograph, influenza H5N1 (seen in gold) grown in MDCK cells (seen in green). Credit: CDC. |  | Gold Olive Branch Left on the Moon by Neil Armstrong. Credit: NASA. |
 | An old gold dredge west of Nome. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | View of San Francisco in 1849 from the head of Clay Street. The ships in the harbor have all been deserted as their crews headed for the gold fields. In: "The Annals of San Francisco". Frank Soule, John Gihon, and James Nesbit. 1855. Page 224. D. Appleton & Company, New York. F869.S3.S7 1855. Credit: America's Coastlines. |
 | Cleaning gravel from the streambed using a suction pump. The device, in the background, is a modified gold dredge and was used by Americorp and NOAA volunteers. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |  | In the foreground, two pumps operate the modified gold dredge. The discharged sediments are placed on the screen where they are separated. This image provides a good overview of the gravel cleaning process, the modified gold dredge is on wheels to make it mobile. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |
 | North Inlet - Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. This rainbow over Winyah Bay supports the theory that estuaries are pots of gold . Credit: National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERR). |  | Gold coral is found below 300 m in tropical oceans. Gerardia sp. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP). |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Gold Buddha" by Ric Shreves Commentary: "Wooden carved Buddha visage with gold applied. ." | "Field Of Gold" by Andrew Millington Commentary: "The fields turn to gold as the sun sets in the Lake District." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Alain de Lille | Do not hold as gold all that shines as gold. |
Benjamin Franklin | The proof of gold is fire... |
Confucius | True gold fears not the fire. |
Horace | Gold will be slave or master. |
Mencius | Yellow gold has its price; learning is priceless. |
MoliFre | Gold makes the ugly beautiful. |
Pope | Judges and senators have been bought with gold. |
Thomas Dekker | A mask of gold hides all deformities. |
Virgil | O accurst craving for gold! |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
John Locke | 1690 | This partage of things in an inequality of private possessions, men have made practicable out of the bounds of society, and without compact, only by putting a value on gold and silver, and tacitly agreeing in the use of money: for in governments, the laws regulate the right of property, and the possession of land is determined by positive constitutions. (Second Treatise of Government) |
US Constitution | 1791 | Clause 1: No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts; pass any Bill of Attainder, ex post facto Law, or Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts, or grant any Title of Nobility. (reference) |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | All other of the above costs shall be paid in gold marks. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Sylvie and Bruno | Carroll, Lewis | Silently the Professor drew from his pocket a square gold watch, with six or eight hands, and held it out for my inspection |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | On the breast of her gown, in fine red cloth, surrounded with an elaborate embroidery and fantastic flourishes of gold thread, appeared the letter A. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Gilt is gold. |
The Fellowship of the Ring | J.R.R. Tolkien | All that is gold does not glitter, Not all who wander are lost |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | The rector would be there in a cope of black and gold and there would be tall yellow candles on the altar and round the catafalque |
King Richard III | Shakespeare, William | Ah, Buckingham, now do I play the touch, To try if thou be current gold indeed |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | And the sun was gold and warm |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | I took the purse, and opening it, poured all the gold into his palm |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | Genius is not a retainer to any emperor, nor is its material silver, or gold, or marble, except to a trifling extent |
The Merchant of Venice | William Shakespeare | All that glisters is not gold; Often have you heard that told; Many a man his life hath sold But my outside to behold |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Banatvala N, Gold BD. Helicobacter pylori. (references) | |
Silver and gold spray paints, which contain more toluene than other spray colors, also are popular inhalants. (references) | ||
Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is still the gold standard and is necessary for the identification of the microsporidian species. (references) | ||
Business | In mid-1994, foreign investment was also allowed in selected gold mines. (references) | |
Another option is to wear silver rings to mark the engagement and replace them by gold rings at the wedding. (references) | ||
Other highly demanded fine jewelry products are gold earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and pearl necklaces and earrings. (references) | ||
Economic History | Kazakhstan | There is good gold mining potential. (references) |
Dominican Republic | Nonfuel minerals (2% of GDP): Nickel, gold, silver. (references) | |
Eritrea | Mineral resources: Gold, copper, iron ore, potash, oil. (references) | |
Indigenous People | Venezuela | The Yanomami, among the most isolated of the indigenous people, have been subjected to persistent incursions into their territory by illegal gold miners, who have introduced both diseases and social ills. (references) |
Suriname | Organizations representing Maroon and Amerindian communities complain that small-scale mining operations, mainly by illegal Brazilian gold miners, dig trenches that cut residents off from their agricultural land and threaten to drive them away from their traditional settlements. (references) | |
Political Economy | Guyana | Guyana is rich in gold, diamonds, timber, and bauxite. (references) |
Trade | Georgia | Trade in gold is subject to licensing. (references) |
Turkey | In 1995, the Istanbul Gold Exchange opened for trading. (references) | |
Ireland | Hallmarking of gold and silver articles is required before they can be offered for sale. (references) | |
Travel | Ghana | Through its Gold Key Service the Commercial Service can arrange appointments upon request. (references) |
Cote D'ivoire | Also included in Gold Key service is help with arranging hotel reservations, local transportation, and professional translation services. (references) | |
Uzbekistan | The Gold Key Service is a service offered by the Commercial Service that can help ensure that your time spent in Uzbekistan is both productive and profitable. (references) | |
Worker Rights | Suriname | Bauxite industry workers are organized, but gold miners are not. (references) |
South Africa | On May 8, 12 persons were killed by an explosion in a gold mine. (references) | |
Cote d'Ivoire | Children also work in family-operated artisanal gold and diamond mines. (references) | |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | HEAD-:MONEY:, n. A capitation tax, or poll-tax. In ancient times there lived a king Whose tax-collectors could not wring From all his subjects gold enough To make the royal way less rough. For pleasure's highway, like the dames Whose premises adjoin it, claims Perpetual repairing. So The tax-collectors in a row Appeared before the throne to pray Their master to devise some way To swell the revenue. "So great," Said they, "are the demands of state A tithe of all that we collect Will scarcely meet them. Pray reflect: How, if one-tenth we must resign, Can we exist on t'other nine?" The monarch asked them in reply: "Has it occurred to you to try The advantage of economy?" "It has," the spokesman said: "we sold All of our gray garrotes of gold; With plated-ware we now compress The necks of those whom we assess. Plain iron forceps we employ To mitigate the miser's joy Who hoards, with greed that never tires, That which your Majesty requires." Deep lines of thought were seen to plow Their way across the royal brow. "Your state is desperate, no question; Pray favor me with a suggestion." "O King of Men," the spokesman said, "If you'll impose upon each head A tax, the augmented revenue We'll cheerfully divide with you." As flashes of the sun illume The parted storm-cloud's sullen gloom, The king smiled grimly. "I decree That it be so -- and, not to be In generosity outdone, Declare you, each and every one, Exempted from the operation Of this new law of capitation. But lest the people censure me Because they're bound and you are free, 'Twere well some clever scheme were laid By you this poll-tax to evade. I'll leave you now while you confer With my most trusted minister." The monarch from the throne-room walked And straightway in among them stalked A silent man, with brow concealed, Bare-armed -- his gleaming axe revealed! G.J. |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
King Constantine of Greece | It's interesting that you mentioned Cassius Clay or Muhammad Ali, because I remember watching him win his gold medal the day after I had won mine. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | On the establishment of a national bank it became the interest of its creditors that gold should be superseded by the paper of the bank as a general currency. |
Ulysses S. Grant | 1869-1877 | To protect the national honor, every dollar of Government indebtedness should be paid in gold, unless otherwise expressly stipulated in the contract. |
Woodrow Wilson | 1913-1921 | But the evil has come with the good, and much fine gold has been corroded. |
John F. Kennedy | 1961-1963 | Prudence and good sense do require, however, that new steps be taken to ease the payments deficit and prevent any gold crisis. |
Lyndon B. Johnson | 1963-1969 | We must back this commitment by legislating now to free our gold reserves. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Gold" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 80.78% of the time. "Gold" is used about 5,089 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 80.78% | 4,111 | 2,392 |
| Noun (proper) | 18.61% | 947 | 7,662 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 0.55% | 28 | 65,706 |
| Unclassified Items | 0.06% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Total | 100.00% | 5,089 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from
