WEBVTT - What's the total amount of gold in the world?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff from house Stuff Works dot com,

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<v Speaker 1>com slash brain Stuff Today for details. Hi, Am Marshall

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<v Speaker 1>brain with today's question. If you took all of the

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<v Speaker 1>gold in the world and put it in one place,

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<v Speaker 1>how much would there be? It's amazing, but the total

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<v Speaker 1>amount of gold in the world is a surprisingly small quantity.

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<v Speaker 1>Here's how you can calculate the total amount that's available.

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<v Speaker 1>If you look it up, you'll find that the annual

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<v Speaker 1>worldwide production of gold is something like fifty million troy

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<v Speaker 1>ounces per year. Gold as a specific gravity of nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>point three, meaning that it's nineteen point three times heavier

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<v Speaker 1>than water, So goldways nineteen point three kilograms per leader.

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<v Speaker 1>A leader is a cube that measures ten centimeters about

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<v Speaker 1>four inches on a side. There are thirty two point

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<v Speaker 1>one five troy ounces in a kilogram. Therefore, the world

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<v Speaker 1>produces a cube of gold that's about four point three

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<v Speaker 1>meters or about fourteen feet on each side every year.

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<v Speaker 1>In other words, all of the gold produced worldwide in

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<v Speaker 1>one year could just about fit in the average person's

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<v Speaker 1>living room. This cube weighs one million, five hundred thousand kilograms,

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<v Speaker 1>or about three million pounds. It would be worth about

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<v Speaker 1>thirty to forty billion dollars at today's prices. Figuring out

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<v Speaker 1>the total amount of gold that's been produced by man

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<v Speaker 1>in all of eternity is a little harder to get

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<v Speaker 1>it some kind of estimate. Let's figure that the world

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<v Speaker 1>has been producing gold at fifty million troy ounces a

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<v Speaker 1>year for two hundred years. That number is probably a

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<v Speaker 1>all high, but when you figure that the Aztecs and

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<v Speaker 1>the Egyptians produced a fair amount of gold for a

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<v Speaker 1>long time, it's probably not too far off. Fifty million

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<v Speaker 1>ounces times two hundred years equals ten billion ounces. Ten

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<v Speaker 1>billion ounces of gold would fit into a cube roughly

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<v Speaker 1>twenty five meters or about eighty two feet on a side.

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<v Speaker 1>Consider that the Washington Monument measures fifty five by fifty

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<v Speaker 1>five ft at the base and is five hundred fifty

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<v Speaker 1>five ft tall. That means that if you could somehow

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<v Speaker 1>gather every scrap of gold that man is ever mined

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<v Speaker 1>into one place, you could only build about one third

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<v Speaker 1>of the Washington Monument with it. Platinum is even more

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<v Speaker 1>scarce than gold. Only three point six million troy ounces

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<v Speaker 1>are produced every year. It's specific gravity is twenty one

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<v Speaker 1>point four five and it was discovered in the eighteenth century,

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<v Speaker 1>not in three thousand BC. If you assume that the

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<v Speaker 1>world has produced three point six million ounces per year

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<v Speaker 1>for fifty years to estimate the total worldwide supply, all

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<v Speaker 1>of the platinum in the world would fit into a

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<v Speaker 1>cube about twenty meters on the side. In other words,

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<v Speaker 1>all the platinum in the entire world would easily fit

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<v Speaker 1>inside the average house. Do you have any ideas or

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