Gold Doesn't Just Glitter

Most people appreciate that gold is a highly valuable precious metal, and admire it for its ornative qualities. Is there is a woman today (at least in the western world) who doesn't have at least one piece of gold jewelry? It may only her wedding band. We know that wars have been fought over it, people have died for it, people are consumed by greed for it, others have betrayed friends and family for it, once we examine the history of this lovely metal. Gold represents wealth and power in the minds of most people. Some of the more practical ways that gold is used every day is what we want to have a look, however.

Deployment systems in air bags in motor vehicles, for example, use gold-plated sensors to send a signal to the air bag alerting the need to deploy. Gold was chosen because It is the only metal wiht a high enough resistance for the hair-thin sensitivity of this device. It is clearly the best choice for something that needs to be relied on in the event of an accident to save the lives of vehicles' passengers. It is considered that reliable.

With the vast amount of communication that goes on in the world today, phones of all types are needed. Land phones, cell phones, wireless phones, you name it, are responsible for the vast amount of day-to-day communications that take place around the world. Yet, without gold, we would be unable to use these savvy little devices, since it's a critical element for the transmission of a phone call. Every mouthpiece has gold in its miniature transmitter, and this precious metal is also used in phone jacks and connection cords. Due to its natural properties, it's the best known element for conveying a superior signal, ergo the need to utilize it in the phone systems of today.

The space probe Galileo is completely dependent upon its onboard computers. They are kept from short-circuiting by the use of heavy ion conductors, made from silicone and gold. If they did not have this type of protection, this and other space vessels would not be able to function, and we would lose critical information about the universe and and our place within its structure.

The President of the United States uses gold each time he travels, and not just because he wears a gold watch. The American government supplies the President with a plane soley for his use. This plane, Airforce One, is equipped with gold-plated reflectors that protect the plane from being targeted by heat-seeking missiles, and therefore, from enemies of the state.

For additional knowledge, or In order to protect ourselves from possible space hazards, we are constantly peering into the skies. We need to have strong, dependable telescopes to do this, so that scientists can see at great distances in significant detail. KeckTelescopes are used for this purpose, and they contain gold-coated mirrors that look around our space neighborhood. We have received most detailed and precise images of Neptune and Uranus ever recorded from these Keck Telescopes.

The uses of gold for other than embellishment and adornment or as a lucrative financial investment are varied and many. Hopefully, now that we have started to look at the many uses of gold, we will now start to appreciate the many other contributions this very precious metal has made to improve the quality of life for all of us.