Earth's Inner Fort Knox [Earth's core has 1.6 quadrillion tons of gold]

Discover magazine ^ | September 2006 | Anne Wootton

[grundle]

Searching for a pot of gold? Try the center of the Earth.

More than 99 percent of Earth's gold is missing—it all sank to the center of the planet billions of years ago. In fact, says geologist Bernard Wood of Macquarie University in Australia, there's enough gold in Earth's core to coat its surface in 1.5 feet of the stuff. How did it get there?

Earth formed from a series of smaller planetesimals that crashed together over the course of 30 million to 40 million years. Wood deduced how much gold ought to be present in Earth's crust by comparing the crust's composition to that of meteorites similar to the planetesimals. He concluded that the crust was depleted of gold, platinum, and nickel and suggests that all these iron-loving elements were pulled into Earth's iron-rich core while its surface was still an ocean of molten magma.

In fact, if meteorites hadn't later deposited gold on Earth's surface millions of years after its core had fully formed and its crust had cooled, gold would be even more rare and expensive than it is today. Wood has calculated that 1.6 quadrillion tons of gold must lie in Earth's core. This may sound like a lot, but it is really only a tiny percentage of the core's overall mass—about one part per million. The core holds six times as much platinum, Wood notes, "but people get less excited about that than gold."

[verum ago]

It's surface was never an ocean of molten magma or it wouldn't still be outgassing millions of tons of methane and helium every year.

why not? the earth has a huge volume that probably couldn't all degass-- especially since gases dissolve better under pressure like that deep under the surface

[sully777]

Better buy gold.

[STARWISE]

That would be super .... next time you go, you should. It's fun .. rings and things get lost. You can find things at the beach. My ex fil found a diamond ring.

[taxesareforever]

Just another version of "I have a dream".

[LibWhacker]

It'd be a cinch. Venus must have a lot of gold in its core, too. So just crash Earth into Venus and go in afterwards and pick up all the gold nuggets in the debris.

Oh, wait . . .

[WestVirginiaRebel]

There's gold in them thar' core!

[Schwaeky]

just put Auric Goldfinger on the job, I'm sure he'll figure out a way to get it all...

[Billthedrill]

Back off, you bums. It's directly under my front yard.

[Constantine XIII]

You can't blow up the Earth...that's where I keep all of my stuff! :)

[Screamname]

There`s also tons of gold floating in the ocean although you can`t see it. If you were to invent a device though could attract only gold particles and ignore everything else and you put it in the ocean for a time then pulled it out, after a time you would have enough gold to cover every tooth of Flavor Flavs teeth.

"Yeeeeaaaahhhh Booooyyyy!"

[RunningWolf]

My question to them is so what?

IMO the only value gold has anymore (other than jewelry and industry) is as a currency of crisis.

Thats why the price is so volatile going both up and back down.

What do you think?

[razorbak]

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more.

Rev 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev 21:18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.

Rev 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

[Thinkin' Gal]

there's enough gold in Earth's core to coat its surface in 1.5 feet of the stuff. How did it get there?

Alchemy.

[mkjessup]

Golden Oldies baby, get used to it! :)

[HEY4QDEMS]

I other news; Mr T just placed an order for 100 shovels.

[Dahoser]

I'll get my best man on the job.

[Fierce Allegiance]

I'm firing up the drill!

[Renegade]

Horace Greeley " Go DOWN young man !"

[agere_contra]

I thought that the core was diamonds (or is that Europa)?

I hope its not Europa. You know perfectly well the monolith-aliens won't let us go there.

[Tulsa Brian]

I thought it had a secret civilization of Freemasons, Templars and Rosicrucians...