Beyond its uses in jewelry, as an investment, and as a currency, gold has many other uses that make everyday life possible. It’s the most malleable metal on earth; a single ounce can be pounded into a 300 square foot sheet. This unique characteristic has allowed scientists, engineers, and designers to fit gold into a plethora of applications – even in the kitchen!
Most commonly, gold is found in nearly all electronics. It’s a great electrical conductor – and it never corrodes (unlike other great conductors like silver and copper). This makes electronics using gold highly reliable because electrical connections are never interrupted through corrosion or wear.
As a material that can be made into any shape, never corrodes, and that has high electrical conductivity, gold has made many contributions to technology in all industries. It’s even useful at the microscopic level. In healthcare, gold-derived chemical compounds are used to treat inflammatory diseases – and gold nanoparticles have shown lots of promise for treating cancer.
Over the life of this blog, we’ve covered lots of interesting and unusual uses for gold. Here’s a collection of some of our favorites that we’ve written about. You’re not going to see jewelry or bullion on this list…
