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Gold Doesn't Just Glitter
by Mark Nildern
http://www.rigold.com
Gold is a highly valuable precious metal, that most people
appreciate for its ornative qualities. There is scarcely
a woman today in the western world who doesn't have at
least one piece of gold jewelry, even if it is only her
wedding band? If we examine the history of this lovely
metal, we would see 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.
This is because it represents wealth and power in the minds
of most people. Let us have a look, however, at some of
the more practical ways that gold is used every day.
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, completely dependent upon its
onboard computers, are only kept from short-circuiting
through the use of heavy ion conductors which are made from
silicone and gold. Without this type of protection, this
and other space vessels would be unable to function,
resulting in the loss of significant critical information
regarding the universe and our place within its structure.
The President of the United States is certainly grateful
for gold, but not because of its market value or how
nicely it decorates his loved ones. Airforce One, the
plane that's reserved for the use of this country's
president, is equipped with gold-plated reflectors, which
are necessary in order to protect the plane from being
targeted by heat-seeking missiles.
In order to protect ourselves from possible space hazards,
we need to have strong, dependable telescopes that will not
only allow scientists to see at great distances, but also
in significant detail. The Keck telescopes, which contain
gold-coated mirrors, are among the many tools that are
used to look around our spatial neighborhood. In fact,
these very telescopes were used to give us the most
detailed and precise images of Neptune and Uranus that
we've ever been able to retrieve.
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.
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