Resumo de Book Of Facts - Reader's Digest

RICHES FROM THE EARTH-II

RICHER THAN FORT KNOX

The world?s largest hoard of gold is not at Fort Knox, Kentucky, USA. It is in the vaults of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, parts of which are 26m beneath the streets of Manhattan.
Fort Knox contains the bulk of the USA?s gold reserves, which in the late 1970s amounted to around 10,000 tonnes, worth in excess of $11,000 million. But the vaults of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York hold more than 40,000 tonnes.
The gold belongs to more than 70 nations, who chose to leave part of their wealth in New York rather than in their own central banks.
Four men working in two shifts transfer gold from one nation?s vault to another?s to keep pace with international dealings.

BEANS MEANS GOLD

The term ?carat?- in which the purity of gold is measured- comes from the Greek word keration, meaning ?carob bean?. The beans were once used in Greece as weights. Pure gold, for instance, is 24 carats. Less valuable gold is often mixed with other metals to produce a desired colour. For example, 18 carat gold consists of 18 parts of gold mixed with six parts of another metal, usually copper or silver.
In diamonds and other gemstones, the carat is used directly as a measure of weight. Five carats are equal to 1g. So a stone weighing 28.3g would contain 142 carats.

WHY DIAMONDS MAY NOT BE FOREVER

The soft grey graphite used in pencil lead, and sometimes as a lubricant, consists of the same substance as diamond, the hardest natural substance. Both are forms of carbon. The reason for the differences between them lies in the way the atoms fit together.
If the carbon atoms are fit in flat planes, the result is graphite, because the planes slide readily over each other. But if the atoms form a rigid three-dimensional network, the result is a diamond. Some scientists argue that, one day, all the diamonds that man has taken from the earth could turn into flaky graphite. The scientists claim that diamonds are inherently unstable because, once brought to the surface, they are no longer subject to the enormous pressure that created them. As a result, the scientists believe, diamonds will revert slowly to a low density form of carbon: graphite. The reversion process is extremely slow, however, and could take many thousands of millions of years.
The diamonds-to-graphite theory is not universally supported, though. Other scientists assert that diamonds revert to graphite only if they are heated.

FOR LOVE OF MARY

The first diamond engagement ring was made in 1477 for 18 year old Archduke Maximilian, son of the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick III. Maximilian was engaged to marry Mary, daughter of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy- and to mark the coming wedding the people of Germany showered Maximilian with silver and gold.
Counselors at Frederick?s court advised Maximilian to have some of the gold made into a ring- and to set it with diamonds in the shape of the letter ?M?. Maximilian did so and gave the ring to Mary at her home in Ghent. By marrying her, he gained the vast Burgundian estates in the Netherlands- and the giving of a diamond engagement ring from a man to his future wife became a tradition.

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