Figure of the month: 2,340

The fact that sun rays are often referred to as golden has more than just an emotional background: Although there are only around nine gold atoms for every trillion hydrogen atoms in the sun’s structure, the sun in our solar system is home to no less than 2,340 trillion tonnes of gold. Which is quite impressive considering one trillion is calculated by multiplying one million by another million. To put this into perspective, 2,340 trillion tonnes is roughly twice the weight of the water in all the oceans on our planet. 

The famous gold cube of solar gold would be huge

A popular illustration of how rare gold is on Earth is the calculation of the dimensions of a cube containing all the gold currently circulating on the blue planet. At present, this gold cube would have an edge length of just over 22 metres and would contain almost 218,000 tonnes, which is all the gold mined from the advent of mankind. The gold on the sun, on the other hand, would have an edge length of more than 500 kilometres in the form of a cube. Not even the wildest theories consider it possible this amount of gold could ever be mined. Even on the surface of the sun, cool compared to its interior, the temperature is over 4,000 degrees Celsius.

So close yet so far away: gold inside the earth 

There is no need to go as far as the sun to find huge gold deposits. Based on the estimate that there are 4 grams of gold in every 1,000 tonnes of rock, the earth crust contains around 30 billion tonnes of gold. And the earth’s interior holds an estimated 1.6 trillion tonnes of the precious metal. However, as with the sun, the heat alone suffices to thwart any gold miner’s dreams. The temperature of the liquid core of the earth is more than 6,000 degrees centigrade, and even the gold deposits nearer the earth surface cannot be exploited and mined in an economically or ecologically viable way. Which is probably a good thing, considering the dangers that could arise for the environment alone.