In all of history, only 161,000 tons (146,057 metric tons) of gold have been mined [source: National Geographic]. Compare that to the 5.6 million tons (5.1 million metric tons) of aluminum produced by the United States -- in a single year [source: International Aluminum Institute]. ...
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If there was ever a reason to consider bitcoin as a long-term investment, this chart would be it. It tracks bitcoin’s total supply since Satoshi Nakamoto mined the first bitcoin block on January 9, 2009. Today, over 95% of all the bitcoin supply has already been created by miners. Th...
The Blue Mosque is one of the five mosques in Turkey with six minarets, and there’s a curious legend about this. According to it, the architect misheard “altın minareler” (gold minarets) as “altı minare” (six minarets). The Blue Mosque is so fabulous that even the Pope vis...
Silver could be said to be the second most known precious metal behind gold, meaning traders are likely to gravitate towards it as the main alternative metal to speculate on. In terms of mined volume, silver is far more abundant than palladium, platinum, or even gold. ...
It is fantastic, but the total amount of gold in the world is a surprisingly small quantity. That means that virtually all the gold that has been mined is still in one form or another.Zen Rial / Getty Images It is amazing, but the total amount of gold in the world is ...
You’d think data was gold the way China guards it. They’ve got some of the toughest data privacy laws around, and they’re serious about it. Companies have to be mighty careful about where they store data, who can look at it, and what they do with it. It’s like trying to keep...
That was another theory the scientists tested. But when they examined a tank that geckos had been climbing around in, they found no evidence of any sticky stuff. Could static electricity explain it? Electricity can certainly stick things together. If you rub a balloon on a woolen jumper, the...
it contracted and cracked and the remaining copper-rich fluid was squeezed into the cracks, where it too finally solidified. Over many millions of years the rocks covering these deposits eroded away and the deposits eventually appeared at the surface (9). When a deposit like this is mined, ...
The old trade routes of the silk road give travellers endless options to explore central Asia, from lake-scattered mountain plateaus to ornate mausoleum complexes and lively cities packed with soviet architecture.