No single element has tantalized and tormented the human - TopicsExpress



          

No single element has tantalized and tormented the human imagination more than the shimmering metal known by the chemical symbol Au. For thousands of years the desire to possess gold has driven people to extremes, fueling wars and conquests, girding empires and currencies, leveling mountains and forests. Gold is not vital to human existence; it has, in fact, relatively few practical uses. Yet its chief virtues—its unusual density and malleability along with its imperishable shine—have made it one of the worlds most coveted commodities, a transcendent symbol of beauty, wealth, and immortality. From pharaohs (who insisted on being buried in what they called the flesh of the gods) to the forty-niners (whose mad rush for the mother lode built the American West) to the financiers (who, following Sir Isaac Newtons advice, made it the bedrock of the global economy): Nearly every society through the ages has invested gold with an almost mythological power. ngm.nationalgeographic/2009/01/gold/larmer-text
Posted on: Mon, 29 Sep 2014 19:04:55 +0000

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