Gold....and MR's.....

steamhead

Active Member
I just heard on the news that gold traded at a bit over $900.00 per ounce.....This can only fuel the ever-growing price rise trend in the more sophisticated electronics we all use everyday...including our trains....All those little gidgets and gadgets we take for granted (from computers to cell phones to DCC...) have one thing in common...gold-plated connectors....

Pheew....$900 bucks an ounce....!!! :cry:
 

brakie

Active Member
I just heard on the news that gold traded at a bit over $900.00 per ounce.....This can only fuel the ever-growing price rise trend in the more sophisticated electronics we all use everyday...including our trains....All those little gidgets and gadgets we take for granted (from computers to cell phones to DCC...) have one thing in common...gold-plated connectors....

Pheew....$900 bucks an ounce....!!! :cry:

Makes me wish I had several pounds..:ANYWORD:
 

beamish

HO & Steam Engineer
In my experience most gold used in the electronics industry are only found in connectors. Usually there are better options for the other parts of a board. Also there are lots of other alternatives to gold used in the electronics connections. Tin, silver, and lead are often found in the substitutes. I actually had a meeting with a company that makes electrical connectors the other day and they informed me of the industry is looking towards alternatives to metal connectors. There are some connectors they are making made of conductive plastic that have better signal response and cost a lot less than the traditional metal connectors.
 

ezdays

Out AZ way
In my experience most gold used in the electronics industry are only found in connectors. Usually there are better options for the other parts of a board. Also there are lots of other alternatives to gold used in the electronics connections. Tin, silver, and lead are often found in the substitutes. I actually had a meeting with a company that makes electrical connectors the other day and they informed me of the industry is looking towards alternatives to metal connectors. There are some connectors they are making made of conductive plastic that have better signal response and cost a lot less than the traditional metal connectors.
There is gold and other precious metals in more than just connectors, but in all cases in minuscule amounts. Yet recyclers are able to recover this stuff due to the massive amounts of electronic junk created.

I had a dental crown put in my mouth several years ago. At that time, the dentist charged me an extra $100 for the gold, which they cover with porcelain anyway, so you don't even know it's there. A few months ago, the crown came off and a different dentist said I needed a new one. I think he charged me $150 for the gold on that one, but when I asked him about the gold in the old one he responded that it wasn't worth anything. I'm sure that he sold it to someone that recovered the gold but that was my gold, bought and paid for so I should never had left him keep the old crown.
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
Gold is used in contacts for automobile air bags because they don't want to chance corrosion causing a failure to deploy when needed. I doubt if we have anything that critical in model railroading that it must have gold contacts or connections. Gold prices will come back down, it is all supply and demand. With the stock market in the toilet, a lot of people switch their investments to prescious metals. Anybody who switches now with gold at an all time high, can expect to lose when gold comes back down to a reasonable level.
 

steamhead

Active Member
Gold will fall back down to more "reasonable" prices....But this financial debacle is just the tip of the iceberg. The repercussions will be felt for years to come, in part also due to the budget and trade deficits that have been run up....:cry:
 
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