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| Gold Coins |
Hydrogen, and Helium through Rn would leak away because they are a gas.
Lithium wouldn't work because it is very flammable, so flammable in fact that it has the possibility to burn through concrete.
A lot of other elements on the table are reactive, meaning they can combine with other elements or corrode.
The actinides wouldn't work because they are extremely radioactive.
Silicon(a key ingredient in sand) is too light and way too common, as well as copper.
Osmium on the other hand is found in meteorites, meaning they are way too rare.
Silver has a different issue. It tarnishes easily. Once the silver tarnishes you can wipe away the tarnish but that is also wiping away part of the silver at the same time, therefore losing some of it's value.
Paladium and Rodium didn't appear til after our currency was created, meaning they couldn't be suggested as our currency.
Platinum has an extremely high melting point, making it too difficult to mold into the shapes of coins or other shapes. Also, platinum looks like numerous other metals, meaning the currency could be easily replicated.
So, this means gold is our only choice. It never corrodes, it's solid, it wont kill you because it's not radioactive, it's rare but not too rare, it's easy to melt, it's obtainable, and most of all it's testable. There is a simple test involving a pumice, a black stone, and a little bit of acid. The smudge left determines the purity of the gold, but does not ruin the metal. This test dates back to Ancient Greece.
Overall I think Gold was the smart choice for our currency.
(Here is the podcast that I used as the basis of this blog, borrowed from Mr. Ludwig who got it from npr)
Silver has a different issue. It tarnishes easily. Once the silver tarnishes you can wipe away the tarnish but that is also wiping away part of the silver at the same time, therefore losing some of it's value.
Paladium and Rodium didn't appear til after our currency was created, meaning they couldn't be suggested as our currency.
Platinum has an extremely high melting point, making it too difficult to mold into the shapes of coins or other shapes. Also, platinum looks like numerous other metals, meaning the currency could be easily replicated.
So, this means gold is our only choice. It never corrodes, it's solid, it wont kill you because it's not radioactive, it's rare but not too rare, it's easy to melt, it's obtainable, and most of all it's testable. There is a simple test involving a pumice, a black stone, and a little bit of acid. The smudge left determines the purity of the gold, but does not ruin the metal. This test dates back to Ancient Greece.
Overall I think Gold was the smart choice for our currency.
(Here is the podcast that I used as the basis of this blog, borrowed from Mr. Ludwig who got it from npr)
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