How gold is used in different industries

Rohan Mathew

If you are one of those investors who regularly track things like gold rate today Bidar or Jaipur you would have noticed that these prices rarely fall down. Have you wondered why? Well here we will try to answer this question however, just to give a hint its consistently soaring prices are not just because of its aesthetic quality as gold has a number of uses in various industries. Let’s find out what these uses are: 

  • Medicinal purposes

Gold is a part of many different types of medical treatments. Injections of weak solutions of sodium aurothiomalate (Myocrisin) or aurothiosulfate are given for the treatment of arthritis and related conditions. Gold injections were used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in the past but have been largely superseded by more effective drugs such as methotrexate.

Gold compounds may also be used in the treatment of some forms of leukaemia (specifically chronic myelogenous leukaemia) and lymphomas. The gold salts auranofin (Ridaura) and aurothioglucose are administered orally and are also used in treating rheumatoid arthritis.

A small number of antibacterial agents containing gold are used to treat severe arthritis that does not respond to other treatments, although resistance quickly develops with their use. Gold was also used for treating tuberculosis as early as 1890. Gold compounds were used by dermatologists as a treatment for acne vulgaris in the nineteenth century, but this use ceased with the introduction of the tetracycline antibiotic

  • Electronics

Gold is an extremely good conductor which helps in carrying current in solid state electronic devices. 

This is why you will find gold being used many basic and advanced electronic devices such as computers, cell phones, televisions, calculators, personal digital assistants, global positioning system units, etc. Within the electronic devices you can find gold being used in components such as switches, soldered joints, strips etc.

  • Aerospace

Here are a few examples of why gold is so important to us when we leave earth:

  1. Gold is the best reflector of visible light known – It is 94% reflective.
  2.  Gold-coated glass mirrors are used for solar observation satellites as they are extremely durable and do not tarnish.
  3. Gold-coated visors can be found on the helmets of astronauts to filter out harmful light rays.
  4. The same gold coating that protects spaceships from the sun’s light also helps preserve night vision by blocking blue light from entering the eye.
  5. Inertness, ductility, biocompatibility, and malleability make gold an ideal material for use in a wide range of medical applications, including surgical instruments and electronic devices such as heart pacemakers and electrodes.
  • Gold in Glassmaking

 Gold helps in adding pigments to the glass In its metallic state, gold is an opaque, light-absorbing material. By alloying gold with silver, copper, nickel or other metals, a range of colours can be produced. It can be used as a paint colourant to produce deep reds and purples, oranges and yellows.

 More recently, gold has been used to produce pink and red coloured glass for ornamental and decorative purposes. Gold chloride (AuCl3) is the gold compound commonly used for this purpose. When added to molten glass, it produces a pink or red colour depending on the concentration of chloride in the batch. In this form, gold is soluble in molten glass. This allows for better control of the amount and distribution of gold within the glass matrix than when metallic gold is used.

With all this information in hand next time as an investor when you notice change in today gold rate in Nellore or for any other city you would know to connect the dots to one of these industries because if there are some massive changes in any of these industries it will affect the demand and thus the price of gold. Visit this page for more info.