Wedding rings, earrings, necklaces, bracelets—if you look around, you’ll see gold everywhere. So there must be lots of it, right? Actually, if you took all the gold mined in history, it would fill only about three-and-a-half Olympic-sized swimming pools! And experts believe around 75 percent of all the gold in the world has already been mined.
If we use all the world’s gold, we’ll have more than a jewelry shortage. Here are a few uses of gold you may not know about:
• Almost all electronics—TVs, computers, GPS systems, calculators—contain a small amount of this precious metal. Gold conducts electricity easily and doesn’t rust. Each device contains just a tiny bit of gold—about 50 cents worth. But very little is recycled. With a billion new phones sold each year, the amount of gold going into the trash adds up!
• Gold sometimes goes inside of people too. Not only can dentists use gold to fill cavities, doctors can use it in medicine to treat arthritis. Gold can be made radioactive and then implanted to treat certain cancers. It’s also a component in many surgical instruments and other medical devices.
• When spending billions on spaceships, it makes sense to build them from materials that will last. Gold is used in rockets’ circuits so that they will be reliable. It’s also part of a film that coats many parts of a spaceship. This film reflects radiation to keep temperatures stable.
• Gold can be added to glass to color windows. Even more practically, it is insulating. Adding gold or using it to coat glass keeps heat inside in winter and outside in summer.
With all gold’s uses, we should be careful not to waste it. But at the same time, we shouldn’t be worried about running out. God gave this metal for our use. And He promises to supply all our needs. (Philippians 4:19)
