Primitive human beings found gold thousands of years ago. In pure form, it is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal.
Gold was first discovered as shining, yellow nuggets. “Gold is where you find it,” so the saying goes, and gold was first discovered in its natural state, in streams all over the world. No doubt it was the first metal known to early homo sapiens.
Gold became a part of every human culture. Its brilliance, natural beauty, and luster, and its great malleability and resistance to tarnish made it enjoyable to work and play with.
Gold is rare and difficult to extract. Gold can be formed as needed for use in, among other things, electronics, dentistry, medical tools, and the defense, aerospace, and automotive industries. Gold is durable and noncorrosive. Gold has visual beauty and magnetic appeal.
The unique colour and shine, combined with the fact it doesn't tarnish, gave gold a unique edge over other metals and the rarity installed confidence because people could have faith it would hold its value as the difficulty in mining gold meant no-one could try to devalue the metal as a currency.
All the best!
Prof. Carl Boniface
Vocabulary builder:
Malleable (adj) = soft, supple, bendy, (ant) rigid
Ductile (adj) = yielding, squashy, spongy, supple, pliable, elastic, malleable, flexible, bendable, pliant
Tarnish (v) = dull, discolor, stain, lose or cause to lose luster, especially as a result of exposure to air or moisture. "Silver tarnishes too easily!"
Faith (n) = confidence, trust, reliance, conviction, belief
Devalue (v) = diminish, lessen, undervalue, cheapen, devaluate, degrade, bring down
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