Gold is not the rarest metal, but it is unusual. Gold is hard to locate. Why? The item’s excellent quality and rarity raise its price. Gold is also used in the jewellery business owing to its malleability; one gramme may be shaped into a one-metre-square, one-metre-wide sheet. Gold is important for these reasons. If it wasn’t so hard to find, the price could be lower. Read more about scarcity of gold in the following sections.

Scarcity of resources

The abundance of a substance in the cosmos reflects its rarity. Rare materials are created seldom in the cosmos. A material’s rarity reveals how frequently it’s created in the cosmos. To find out why they cost less, we must know what alternative materials are accessible. Atoms are the building blocks of everything, and each has protons, electrons, and neutrons. If a substance has few particles, it’s simple. Most of the cosmos is simple, like hydrogen and helium. Helium contains two protons, two neutrons, and two electrons, whereas hydrogen has only one. So they’re the simplest and most frequent components in the universe. It’s harder to build intricate ones, thus there are fewer.

Most of the universe’s stuff is hydrogen and helium, which are also building components. In a supernova explosion, heavier materials than hydrogen and helium are generated in the dying star’s core. Inside a dying star, helium and hydrogen may combine to produce heavier elements, and during a supernova, even heavier elements can be generated.

As stars seldom perish, heavy metals are uncommon. So there’s fewer of these elements than hydrogen and helium. A rarer technique to make these materials is when two stars collide.

What factors contribute to the rarity of gold? 

Gold is element 79. It’s bright yellow. Same number of protons, electrons, and neutrons. Heavy elements include gold. To produce gold, hydrogen and helium must first combine into heavier elements. People thought supernova explosions created most of the universe’s gold, but new research suggests neutron star mergers do. Recent observations of a neutron star merger demonstrated that heavier atoms may be created. A supernova doesn’t usually create anything heavier than iron.

Less commonly occur explosions and collisions that create gold. Less gold is created from hard-to-find metal. Gold’s arrival on Earth is still a mystery. Why is gold rare?

Hypothesis on the existence of gold on Earth.

The origin of gold and other heavy metals is to blame for their scarcity in the universe. We suppose Earth’s gold was deposited during its formation. The solar system’s dust included traces of gold from explosions and collisions. This gold lasted a long time in Earth’s mantle and core. An asteroid strike uncovered the gold. It’s our only option, and it makes sense because dealing with gold needs a lot of energy.

Gold is the most flexible, highest-quality material (resistant to corrosion). Star explosions and neutron star collisions generated heavy metals like gold and formed neutron stars. Heavy elements remained gaseous and fused during solar system formation. Due to the energy needed to make them, these materials are rare.