[Titan]

What, can I ask, can gold be used for? I seem to recall it's precious just because... it can be. You can't actually DO anything with it besides make it look pretty.

[BloodEagle]

Gold has a relatively low melting point, allowing it to be heavily used in most (if not all) electronic devices. Like your MoBo.

[pecenipicek]

also, low resistance to electricity flowing through it, etc etc (there's a reason the gold plated connectors are used in high-end stuff)

[The E]

What, can I ask, can gold be used for? I seem to recall it's precious just because... it can be. You can't actually DO anything with it besides make it look pretty.

It's precious because a) it's rare and b) because of its chemical properties, it doesn't tarnish (like silver does). This means that it is easy to take a given piece of gold, melt it down, and create something new with it. Because of this it was regarded as a "timeless" material, and timelessness and reusability made it worth very much. Plus, it's pretty.

[Thaeris]

also, low resistance to electricity flowing through it, etc etc (there's a reason the gold plated connectors are used in high-end stuff)

That's probably not the main reason its plated on connection points, though.

Keep in mind that copper is the second-best conductor of electricity, and silver is in fact the best by a small margin. Since copper is cheaper, that's why you use copper wire, not silver.

Gold is highly resistant to corrosion and can remain coherent as a sheet to the point you can see through it. Thus, by plating something with gold, you in fact use hardly any of the stuff (which is good, as it's very expensive) while coating a surface with a material that's still highly conductive and won't form much of a disruptive oxide layer - AT ALL.

[pecenipicek]

also, low resistance to electricity flowing through it, etc etc (there's a reason the gold plated connectors are used in high-end stuff)

That's probably not the main reason its plated on connection points, though.

Keep in mind that copper is the second-best conductor of electricity, and silver is in fact the best by a small margin. Since copper is cheaper, that's why you use copper wire, not silver.

Gold is highly resistant to corrosion and can remain coherent as a sheet to the point you can see through it. Thus, by plating something with gold, you in fact use hardly any of the stuff (which is good, as it's very expensive) while coating a surface with a material that's still highly conductive and won't form much of a disruptive oxide layer - AT ALL.

thank you, i'm a definite idiot when it comes to chemistry and some things....

[NGTM-1R]

I kinda wish our money was still backed by silver.

YOU SHALL NOT CRUCIFY MANKIND UPON A CROSS OF GOLD BLAHBLAH WILLAM JENNINGS BRYAN.

[Scotty]

... Our money was (until the 1950s) always backed by gold.  Never silver.

[Nuke]

also, low resistance to electricity flowing through it, etc etc (there's a reason the gold plated connectors are used in high-end stuff)

That's probably not the main reason its plated on connection points, though.

Keep in mind that copper is the second-best conductor of electricity, and silver is in fact the best by a small margin. Since copper is cheaper, that's why you use copper wire, not silver.

Gold is highly resistant to corrosion and can remain coherent as a sheet to the point you can see through it. Thus, by plating something with gold, you in fact use hardly any of the stuff (which is good, as it's very expensive) while coating a surface with a material that's still highly conductive and won't form much of a disruptive oxide layer - AT ALL.

platinum is actually the best conducting metal at room temperature if i remember my electronics classes from high school correctly, its followed by gold, silver is also a good conductor but im not sure how it matches with copper. of course actual research says im full of ****. diamonds are also very conductive both electronically and thermally. as beter lab manufacturing processes come into being, diamonds will be devalued enough to be used in most consumer electronics, at least as high efficiency heat exchangers.

[Thaeris]

Your info's a bit off, Nuke...

Diamonds are actually the best conductors of heat available, I believe. However, they do not conduct electricity. Gotta love those non-metals (carbon, but everyone knows that).

Silver is the best conductor of electricity as far as my knowledge goes... I've not had the ambient temperature scenario as an argument before, but silver is indeed the best conductor of electricty as far as I'm aware. Now, this isn't to say temperature isn't a factor, as most superconductors (zero - nil resistance means awesome conductance...) become that way when the given element is brought down to near zero-Kelvin numbers (absolute zero). However, that's friggin' cold and you're not going to have that as a factor in your everyday job... Unless you work at a university/lab with a superconducting magnet.

Copper is second-best by a small margin. It's fairly common and much more common than silver. If you've got all-silver electronics, you've got way too much cash on hand.

I'm not sure how gold and platinum stack up, but the main attractions are that the metals are basically inert - they don't corrode. It appears that platimum has a rather low expansion coefficient, so it's valuable in high-temperature situations.

Lastly, I didn't mean to offend you, pecenipicek. I apologise if I did.

[Woolie Wool]

Backing a modern currency with precious metals would be a horrible idea. There's not enough gold in the world to account for anything more than a small fraction of the American money supply--the amount of wealth that exists in the form of dollars is several times the value of all the gold ever refined on Earth. Furthermore, unlike in years past, precious materials have uses other than as money or treasure--gold is far too useful for a variety of electrical applications for all of it to be locked up in vaults to back currency. Even diamonds, perhaps the greatest symbol of vanity and materialistic pettiness in all of Western civilization, can be used for all sorts of industrial purposes--drill bits, reinforcing glass, abrasives, etc.

Fiat money is the only feasible solution for large economies. The risk of a fiat currency collapsing is something we just have to deal with and reduce through sound economic management.

platinum is actually the best conducting metal at room temperature if i remember my electronics classes from high school correctly, its followed by gold, silver is also a good conductor but im not sure how it matches with copper. of course actual research says im full of ****. diamonds are also very conductive both electronically and thermally. as beter lab manufacturing processes come into being, diamonds will be devalued enough to be used in most consumer electronics, at least as high efficiency heat exchangers.

Don't count on that happening anytime soon. The value of natural diamonds is pretty much fixed by the DeBeers cartel, one of the most evil businesses that has ever existed.

[Nuke]

indeed it will be some time before diamonds will be dirt cheap. and most of the manufacture processes are kept so top secret they nearly rival the skunk works. with undisclosed laboratories and such. well maybe not that secret, they do like the outside world knowing what their doing, to gain funding, but they most likely want to keep the where and the how hidden until their patents come through. no telling what those cartels will do. essentially they found with he proper seed diamonds, they can grow onto them using some high temperature plasma of undisclosed chemical structure and come out with really large and very pure diamonds.

also diamonds and carbon in general are indeed conductive. graphite is used as brushes in large ac motors, resistors are made of carbon as well. typical testing of diamonds is done with an electrical charge, if a charge goes through it, its good.

[karajorma]

also diamonds and carbon in general are indeed conductive. graphite is used as brushes in large ac motors,

Oh no they aren't. Diamonds lack the free electrons to be good conductors of electricity. Graphite has a completely different structure to diamond which which results in a large number of dissociated electrons that allow it to conduct a charge. Diamond with its 4 covalent bonds definitely does not have this kind of structure.

It is possible for the impurities present in a diamond to allow it to act as a semiconductor but pure diamonds are actually very good insulators. 

[pecenipicek]

Lastly, I didn't mean to offend you, pecenipicek. I apologise if I did.

naw, you didnt, i was just commenting on my lack of knowledge for the materials... last time i studied chemistry in relation to the physical properties of elements was 4 years ago

my formal education is textile - chemical technician (aka, lab dyeing monkey) and my chemistry courses were much much more focused on analitical chemistry (study of reactions of various chemicals on textile and similar materials. similar often meaning running around like a maniac with some HCl on your fingers xD)


Lab practices, oh how i loathed thee an thy insufficient safety measures... the only method of protection was a lab coat. most of the time, the more volatile chemicals were kept under lock thoroughly. didnt stop me from making nitroglicerine accidentally tho




also to echo karajorma on the whole diamonds matter, no, they do not conduct electricity. thank their tetraedric structure.

graphite has a hexagonal structure with two free links on every atom if i remember correctly...(talking about a single molecule here) and then there's the whole carbon "buckyball" deal

[Nuke]

its funny how we used to electrocute the **** out of each other with the diamond tester in the pawn shop. maybe it works on some kind of oscillation principal. or perhaps it was some bull**** tech they were dumb enough to buy.

[Scotty]

Backing a modern currency with precious metals would be a horrible idea. There's not enough gold in the world to account for anything more than a small fraction of the American money supply--the amount of wealth that exists in the form of dollars is several times the value of all the gold ever refined on Earth. Furthermore, unlike in years past, precious materials have uses other than as money or treasure--gold is far too useful for a variety of electrical applications for all of it to be locked up in vaults to back currency. Even diamonds, perhaps the greatest symbol of vanity and materialistic pettiness in all of Western civilization, can be used for all sorts of industrial purposes--drill bits, reinforcing glass, abrasives, etc.

Fiat money is the only feasible solution for large economies. The risk of a fiat currency collapsing is something we just have to deal with and reduce through sound economic management.

The value of fiat money is entirely adjustable.  There is absolutely nothing that prevents there from being enough precious metals to account for it all.  The metals would just be rather expensive.  As a minor correction, I am as firmly opposed to using gold as said metal as you are.  I would vastly prefer it to be silver, which has much less practical uses, but still has that "ooooh, pretty" effect that is practically demanded by anything of value.  Another bonus is that silver is orders of magnitude more plentiful.

[BloodEagle]

its funny how we used to electrocute the **** out of each other with the diamond tester in the pawn shop. maybe it works on some kind of oscillation principal. or perhaps it was some bull**** tech they were dumb enough to buy.

That explains a lot. 

[Ghostavo]

Regarding diamonds and electrical conductivity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond#Electrical_conductivity

Other specialized applications also exist or are being developed, including use as semiconductors: some blue diamonds are natural semiconductors, in contrast to most diamonds, which are excellent electrical insulators. The conductivity and blue color originate from the boron impurity. Boron substitutes for carbon atoms in the diamond lattice, donating a hole into the valence band.

Hence, pure diamonds do not conduct electricity. Which makes the diamond tester referred to by Nuke have the opposite evaluation. If the diamond conducts, it's not pure.

[Polpolion]

... Our money was (until the 1950s) always backed by gold.  Never silver.

Huh. I could've sworn someone's money was backed by silver. Oh well...

[NGTM-1R]

As I noted, William Jennings Bryan took up the cause when he wasn't opposing evolution.