Remarkably facts about gold

Gold, (lat.) Aurum is a chemical element with the number 79 and it has been a desired metall for a long time.
It is easy to work with, shiny, does not get rosty, and can easily be melted, melleable and on top of that does not occur in big amounts.
Nevertheless, we do not have a lot of general knowledge about it, and if so, just by picking up random things.

<– back to the Joseph's-Penny
Every grain of gold of this world
… more juicy examples coming soon …

Some experts say, that all available amount of gold in the world (that is all the gold that has ever been found)
around 8,000 cubic meter (= 282,517.33 cu.ft.).

This equals a cube with the side length of 20 meters (= 65.6168 ft.)

Let us assume this is correct (it would not be able to verify anyway)
and let us do a few experiments.

To begin with, a short gold lesson for beginners, step by step:
The price of gold is officially set in US dollar per ounce (troy ounce).
The current gold price per ounze: 1,453.6000 USD
One ounce (troy ounce): 31.1034768 g
We can infer the price in USD per gramm: 46.7343 USD
The current exchange rate from USD to GBP: 0.6592  
Price of gold in GBP per gram: 30.8073 GBP
Price of gold in GBP per kilogram: 30,807.2672 GBP
Now the density of gold: 19.3020 g/cm³

With this information we have all the ingredients. Now we can calculate anything.

Typical international gold coins:
Vienna Philharmonic Coin (1 ounce): 958.1984 GBP
Vienna Philharmonic Coin (1/2 ounce): 479.1146 GBP
Vienna Philharmonic Coin (1/4 ounce): 239.5573 GBP
Vienna Philharmonic Coin (1/10 ounce): 96.1495 GBP
Vienna Philharmonic Coin (20 ounces) special edition 2009: 19,162.1202 GBP
Vienna Philharmonic Coin (1000 ounces) "Big Phil" special edition 2004: 958,198.4311 GBP
US Golden Eagle (1 ounce): 1,045.2906 GBP
US Golden Eagle (1/2 ounce): 522.6453 GBP
US Golden Eagle (1/4 ounce): 261.3380 GBP
US Golden Eagle (1/10 ounce): 104.5291 GBP
American Buffalo (1 ounce): 958.2138 GBP
American Buffalo (1/2 ounce): 479.0530 GBP
American Buffalo (1/4 ounce): 239.6805 GBP
American Buffalo (1/10 ounce): 95.8106 GBP
ZA Krugerrand (1 ounce): 1,028.7502 GBP
ZA Krugerrand (1/2 ounce): 522.6545 GBP
ZA Krugerrand (1/4 ounce): 261.3257 GBP
ZA Krugerrand (1/10 ounce): 104.5321 GBP
Canadian Maple Leaf (1 ounce): 958.1984 GBP
Canadian Maple Leaf (1/2 ounce): 479.1146 GBP
Canadian Maple Leaf (1/4 ounce): 239.5573 GBP
Canadian Maple Leaf (1/10 ounce): 95.8106 GBP
Canadian Maple Leaf (1/10 ounce): 47.9053 GBP
Bars of gold - per weight:
1 g: 30.8073 GBP
2 g: 61.6145 GBP
2.5 g: 77.0182 GBP
5 g: 154.0363 GBP
10 g: 308.0727 GBP
20 g: 616.1453 GBP
50 g: 1,540.3634 GBP
100 g: 3,080.7267 GBP
250 g: 7,701.8168 GBP
500 g: 15,403.6336 GBP
1,000 g: 30,807.2672 GBP
12,441 g: 383,285.2480 GBP

Now we can look at our total amount of gold.

One cubic meter massive gold (= one cube 1 x 1 x 1 meter / 3.28 x 3.28 x 3.28 ft.):
Volume: 35.31 cu.ft.
Weight (kg): 19,302 kg
Price (GBP): 594,641,871 GBP
8,000 cubic meter massive gold (= one cube 20 x 20 x 20 meter / 65.62 x 65.62 x 65.62 ft.):
Volume: 282,517.33 cu.ft.
Weight (kg): 154,416,000 kg
Price (GBP): 4,757,134,968,844 GBP
How much gold would each person get, if we distributed it equally?
Kilograms per Head: 0.0221 kg
Price (GBP): 679.5907 GBP
This would equal about a 2 Euro coin!
 
 
Notably facts about gold, weight, volume and price

All the prices in the list are automatically updated according to the current gold price.

The volume of the items was calculated carefully but not nit-picky.

For every object was chosen the most simple geometric solid figure!

To be mentioned, the 2 Euro coin is suspicious close to one cubic centimeter.

I was repeatidly asked how to calculate the volume of a paper clip - very easy - stretch it until it is straight, and you get a simple zylinder with length and diameter! ;-)

The fewest of us have the right perception in handling with pure gold.
In the following list you will find some everyday objects that you probably have held in your hands before …
… now imagine these items made out of pure, massive gold.
How much would they weight and how much would they cost?
Item Volume (cu.in.) Weight (lb.) Price £ (GBP)
Paper clip (25mm = 0.98 inch): 0.003143 0.002192 30.6241
One 1 (Euro)Cent-Coin: 0.018374 0.012813 179.0467
One 1 Euro-Coin: 0.053463 0.037281 520.9657
One 50 (Euro)Cent-Coin: 0.057539 0.040124 560.6878
Cube 1 x 1 x 1 cm (0.39 x 0.39 x 0.39 inch): 0.061024 0.042554 594.6419
One 2 Euro-Coin: 0.061561 0.042928 599.8747
Battery typ LR03 AAA: 0.216604 0.151044 2,110.6813
A classic game dice: 0.222877 0.155419 2,171.8105
One cigarette: 0.243058 0.169491 2,368.4586
Average greeting card: 0.322205 0.224683 3,139.7091
1 sheet of paper (DIN A4): 0.380605 0.265407 3,708.7814
With the amount of one sheet of paper (massive gold) we could gild almost 30 human bodys!
Battery Typ LR6 AA: 0.454725 0.317093 4,431.0334
Original Las Vegas dice (7/11, Craps): 0.463005 0.322867 4,511.7263
CD or DVD (the disk): 0.815253 0.568499 7,944.1775
One original Mozartkugel: 0.862705 0.601589 8,406.5711
Manner wafer (1 wafer): 0.864157 0.602602 8,420.7235
Battery typ 6LR61 (9 volt block): 1.129342 0.787523 11,004.7993
1 tea candle (complete volume): 1.152311 0.803540 11,228.6225
Beer coaster (round - Heineken): 1.229866 0.857622 11,984.3528
Pencil (7 inch, unsharpened): 1.323483 0.922903 12,896.5929
Match box: 1.823029 1.271251 17,764.3907
Golfball: 2.505122 1.746894 24,411.0002
Batterie Typ LR20 D-Mono: 3.037664 2.118251 29,600.3209
iPhone 4: 3.831174 2.671589 37,332.6276
One hen's egg: 4.481572 3.125130 43,670.3801
Pack of cigarettes: 6.966344 4.857833 67,883.0792
Tennis ball: 8.181234 5.705011 79,721.4949
Manner wafers (pack of ten): 8.641572 6.026019 84,207.2354
Baseball ball: 12.947701 9.028807 126,168.0201
Capacity of one Ikea coffee cup (DINERA): 18.307123 12.766088 178,392.5613
Beverage can (330 ml): 20.137836 14.042697 196,231.8175
Beverage can (500 ml): 30.511872 21.276813 297,320.9356
Tetra-pack (1000 ml): 61.023744 42.553626 594,641.8711
American football ball: 233.751452 163.001664 2,277,775.6873
Football (Soccer) ball (size 5): 353.856908 246.754680 3,448,135.4276
Average shoe box: 640.749313 446.813071 6,243,739.6466
Medicine ball: 1,148.257504 800.713245 11,189,119.9169
Human body (average volume): 4,576.780808 3,191.521939 44,598,140.3329
<– back to the Joseph's-Penny