You may be confusing with diamonds. Gold is, and in fact, any element heavier than iron are pretty rare because they cannot be created by stars alone according to current models, they need more extreme and rare astrophysics phenomenons like supernova and black holes.
Gold is rare, compared to just about every other element, in accessible areas of earth. All the gold ever discovered on Earth would fit inside a 23 meter (75 foot) cube. This is about 244 thousand tons, in all of human history.
Compare this to iron, where just the United States produces 46 Million tons in 2022 alone.
There is plenty of gold deep within the Earth - it is very dense, so it sank towards the core when Earth was recently formed - but on the surface and the proximal crust, it is not found in abundance.
That is a mind blowing fact about all gold fitting in 23 cubic meters. I had to fact check it because it sounds so absurd: www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21969100
Rodeo@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
Gold also isn’t all that rare. It’s value is so high because of jewelry marketing, not rarity.
oce@jlai.lu 8 months ago
You may be confusing with diamonds. Gold is, and in fact, any element heavier than iron are pretty rare because they cannot be created by stars alone according to current models, they need more extreme and rare astrophysics phenomenons like supernova and black holes.
Rodeo@lemmy.ca 8 months ago
Yes I think that is the exact confusion I had.
TheChurn@kbin.social 8 months ago
Gold is rare, compared to just about every other element, in accessible areas of earth. All the gold ever discovered on Earth would fit inside a 23 meter (75 foot) cube. This is about 244 thousand tons, in all of human history.
Compare this to iron, where just the United States produces 46 Million tons in 2022 alone.
There is plenty of gold deep within the Earth - it is very dense, so it sank towards the core when Earth was recently formed - but on the surface and the proximal crust, it is not found in abundance.
0x0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 months ago
That is a mind blowing fact about all gold fitting in 23 cubic meters. I had to fact check it because it sounds so absurd: www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21969100
brakenium@lemm.ee 8 months ago
Is that 23mx23mx23m or 23 cubic meters?
swicano@kbin.social 8 months ago
The first one, 23x23x23
ThatWeirdGuy1001@lemmy.world 8 months ago
Those…Are the same thing?