Video Comprehension – The Wonders of Gold

Gold is one of the world’s most sought after elements. It has been the symbol of luxury for millennia, and to this day it is still an important factor in world economics.

The metal’s bling factor makes it something which is yearned for by everyone from criminal despots to rap stars, to royalty. James Bond author Ian Fleming used the metal as a thematic element in a number of his bestselling novels, including “The Man with the Golden Gun,” and “Goldfinger.” In fact Fleming was so obsessed with the element that he wrote many of his novels on a gold-plated typwriter!

Martyn Poliakoff, a professor of chemistry at the University of Nottingham, made a fascinating documentary about gold from inside the vaults of the Bank of England! The dramatic background to his eye-opening lecture are solid gold bars worth billions of pounds.

Watch the documentary below and answer the questions which follow:

1) Why is it a bit sad for the professor to see all this gold?
2) How much gold does each shelf contain?
3) Why do central banks like to keep some of their money in gold?
4) When was the oldest bar old gold deposited at this vault?
5) What does the professor say the Australian gold bar looks like?
6) What can you buy with a bar of gold such as the ones we see?
7) What would you build if you took all of the gold that was ever mined?
8) How much is the professor worth, if he is “worth his weight in gold”?
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Answers below
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Answers
1) He says it is sad because the vault looks like a mausoleum, instead of the gold being used for exciting reactions. (00:26)
2) Each shelf contains a tonne of gold. (00:40)
3) Banks like to do this because the price of gold is very stable. (02:00)
4) It was been there since 1916. (03:14)
5) It looks like a loaf of bread. (04:24)
6) You could buy two quite nice houses with one bar. (05:10)
7) It would construct a cube measuring 20m each side – a 20 metre cube. (05:35)
8) He is worth about 2.5 million pounds. (06:08)