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THE USES OF GOLD
Gold's superior electrical conductivity, its malleability,
and its resistance to corrosion have made it vital
to the manufacture of components used in a wide
range of electronic products and equipment, including
computers, telephones, cellular phones, and home
appliances.
Gold
has extraordinarily high reflective powers that are
relied upon in the shielding that protects spacecrafts
and satellites from solar radiation and in industrial
and medical lasers that use gold-coated reflectors
to focus light energy. And because gold is biologically
inactive, it has become a vital tool for medical research
and is even used in the direct treatment of arthritis
and other intractable diseases.
ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS
COMPUTERS/SEMICONDUCTORS
Millions of computers are manufactured worldwide each
year and gold plays an active role in their many components.
The most important use of gold is as a fine wire that
connects circuits to the semiconductors, or the "brains"
of the computer. This "bonding wire" is specially
refined (up to "five nines" or 99.999-percent
pure gold) and has an average diameter of one hundredth
of a millimeter - smaller than the diameter of a human
hair. Gold is also used as a paste with which a circuit
is printed on a ceramic base to produce a printed circuit
board. In other areas, each key on the computer keyboard
strikes gold circuits that relay the data to the microprocessor.
Computer games also use printed circuit boards that
have gold circuitry to connect the logic units in the
game package. Computer peripherals, where there is frequent
plugging and unplugging, use gold-coated contacts to
assure consistently clean, corrosion-free contacts and
reliable signals. Gold is essential in computer circuitry
because of its electrical conductivity and because it
does not degrade over time.
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POWERCHAIRS
Computerized wheelchairs, called powerchairs, allow
disabled patients further control over their movements
and a renewed sense of independence. At the heart
of the computerized controls is a tiny, but powerful,
Motorola microprocessor connected to the wheelchair's
controls by gold wire and gold-coated connector pads.
Gold is used in this application because of its high
electrical conductivity and its resistance to corrosion.
The powerchair, which is exposed to many climates
and temperatures, could not operate properly without
its gold corrosion-resistant components.
SPACECRAFT
To protect the onboard computers in the Galileo space
probe from short circuiting as a result of heavy bombardment,
NASA developed a Heavy Ion Counter (HIC). The HIC
contains silicon wafers with gold electrodes that
detect the heavy ions as they penetrate the wafers.
Use of the HIC allows NASA engineers to monitor the
functioning of onboard computers and make adjustments
when necessary.
The Pathfinder "robotic geologist" that took
close-up color pictures of rocks and soil on Mars and
analyzed the planet's chemical makeup, relied on sophisticated
electronics to direct its landing and movement. In addition,
intricate gold circuitry enabled sophisticated computer
technology to transmit the Pathfinder's information
back to Earth.
TELEPHONES
Behind the protective cover of every telephone mouthpiece
is a miniature transmitter that contains gold in one
of its central components, the diaphragm. A gold-plated
dome in the diaphragm works with the other mouthpiece
components to transcribe voice vibrations into an electrical
current. Gold is used in this application because of
its permanence, particularly in public phones that are
exposed to outdoor weather conditions.
TELEPHONE
WALL JACKS
Because gold conveys a superior signal, and does not
corrode or tarnish, it is used to coat billions of contacts
for phone jacks and connecting cords throughout our
nationwide telephone system. The phone wall jacks are
goldcoated to assure the customer of the convenience
of moving the phone from one wall jack to another while
maintaining clear static-free conversation.
TVs
AND VCRs
The microcircuitry in televisions is composed of fine
lines of gold circuits connected by hair-thin gold wires
to the micro-electronic circuit chips that process broadcast
signals into a TV picture. Cables connecting television
sets to videocassette recorders are goldcoated to assure
clear relay of the television signal.
MEDICINE AND HEALTH
Gold is valuable to modern medicine because it
is non-toxic and biologically benign, one of the
most efficient conductors of electricity, and
its density enables it to be seen under electron
microscopes. And although gold is virtually indestructible,
it is a soft metal, easy to work with, shape,
flatten or draw out into microscopic strands.
DENTISTRY
Most gold used in dentistry is in the form of alloys,
which are mixtures of gold and other metals, such
as platinum, palladium, silver, copper and zinc.
Gold is non-toxic and biologically inert, which
makes gold ideal for use in dental procedures. It
is easy for the dentist to manipulate, but strong,
stiff, durable and tough -- it never wears or tarnishes.
It is also very resistant to chemical attack and
does not corrode.
EYE SURGERY
Accidents, disease or surgery may cause a condition
called Lagophthalmos, which is the inability to
close the eyelids fully. In order to keep the eyelids
moist, doctors previously resorted to sewing the
eyelid half shut, but a new gold eyelid implant
is now the current form of treatment. These gold
"eyelid load implants" are surgically
inserted into the upper lid and allows the eye to
blink normally. The muscle that opens the eyelid
works to hold the eyelid open; then, when the muscle
relaxes, gravity exerted on the gold causes the
eyelid to drop. Gold is the best choice for this
device as it does not corrode and will not react
with tears.
LASERS
One of the most promising new areas of medical treatment
is in the use of ion lasers, the interior surfaces
of which are coated with gold to control the focus
of the beam. In one development, gold vapor lasers
create a high intensity red light with the required
wavelength to seek out and selectively destroy cancerous
cells without harming healthy neighboring cells.
A new lightweight laser, designed by the military
and using gold plated contacts, enables medics to
seal battlefield wounds in the field, thereby reducing
blood loss and improving survival chances for the
seriously wounded. In hospitals, this new design
will allow lasers to be brought to critically injured
emergency patients without moving them, saving minutes
and lives.
Surgeons use gold instruments to clear clogged coronary
arteries. Injection of microscopic gold pellets
helps retard prostate cancer in men. Some forms
of cancer are treated with colloidal gold. Lasers
with gold-coated parts literally give new life to
patients with once-inoperable heart conditions and
tumors.
These gold-reliant lasers are revolutionizing medicine
- from pinpoint destruction of cancerous cells to
rapid emergency surgical procedures, to delicate
surgery on eyes and brain tissue that was previously
not possible. Most recently, gold-coated lasers
are being used to rejuvenate skin tissue damaged
by burns and injuries, while leaving the surrounding
healthy tissue unaffected. Because of its inert
and benign nature, gold can be used inside the human
body without fear of corrosion or harmful physical
reactions in most cases.
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