I’ll have to admit, many of our team members didn’t know these facts about gold and silver. Thanks to the people at FazeFive for schooling us! (Gold as “excrement of the gods?” Love it!)
GOLD
- This metal has received the name “gold” for a good reason: the word comes from Old English and it means “ yellow” (and the Aztec word for gold, “teocuitatl” is translated by the Europeans as “excrement of the gods”; the Latin name is “aurum” which is “shining dawn” or “glow of sunrise”).
- Gold can be found on each of the 7 continents and 80% of it is still buried somewhere underground and 10 billion tons lays in the oceans. Until today, 161 000 tons of it has been mined, 73% of it has been extracted since 1910. And 2/3 of the world’s gold comes come from South Africa and India is the biggest consumer of gold today.
- Gold can be manufactured so thin that it appears transparent. It is used in some aircraft cockpit windows for de-icing or anti-icing by passing electricity through it. The heat produced by the resistance of the gold is enough to deter ice from forming.
SILVER
- “Silver” refers to the .925 silver grade emerged in England, in the 13th century, but words for silver and money are the same in at least 14 languages. Silver was even mentioned in the Bible, its name comes from the Old English “seolfor”.
- Since 700 BC., silver has been coined over and over again: in 2003, in the United Kingdom, there were minted into coins and medals half a million ounces of silver.
- The largest producers of silver are Mexico, Chile and Peru. Over the years, silver jewellery has been associated with magical powers and people believed that silver can heal, bring good luck and ward the evil spirits away.
- Silver can be eaten (not advised) and it’s harder than gold.