Gold is incredibly rare in the universe because it forms only in the most extreme, violent events, primarily the merger of neutron stars or powerful supernovae, requiring immense energy to forge its heavy atomic structure. While it's a scattered element (around 0.0006 ppm by mass), making it scarce in general, it's also found in concentrated forms within asteroids or planetary cores, leading to a dual nature of being both cosmically rare and widely dispersed.
Found at a rate of only 1 part per 250,000 in the Earth's crust, gold is extremely rare. Some platinum group metals like rhodium are both rarer and more valuable than gold. On this page, learn more about how gold's rarity stacks up to other precious metals.
While no planet in our solar system is entirely made of gold, the asteroid 16 Psyche is believed to contain an astonishing amount of gold and other precious metals. Located between Mars and Jupiter, this metallic giant could be worth trillions—yes, trillions! —of dollars.
Astatine is the rarest naturally occurring element. The total amount of astatine in the Earth's crust (quoted mass 2.36 × 1025 grams) is estimated by some to be less than one gram at any given time.
How Long Before Gold Runs Out and What Happens Then? Based on known reserves, estimates suggest that gold mining could reach the point of being economically unsustainable by 2050, though new vein discoveries will likely push that date back somewhat.
If you invested $1,000 in gold 10 years ago (around late 2015/early 2016), your investment would likely be worth significantly more today (late 2025), potentially in the range of $2,000 to over $3,000, reflecting substantial price appreciation, though less than the S&P 500 but outperforming during certain periods of market stress, acting as a hedge against uncertainty, with returns varying based on exact entry/exit points and premiums/spreads.
Gold is clearly the most durable, but many objects fashioned from silver, copper, bronze, iron, lead, and tin have survived for several thousand years. Dry environments, such as tombs, appear to be optimum for metal preser- vation, but some metals have survived in shipwrecks for over a thousand years.
"Astatine remains the only element whose discovery was confirmed by a nonprimate," writes Sam.
Scientific element: Francium
The most expensive and second rarest natural element.
Ununennium, also known as eka-francium or element 119, is a hypothetical chemical element; it has symbol Uue and atomic number 119. Ununennium and Uue are the temporary systematic IUPAC name and symbol respectively, which are used until the element has been discovered, confirmed, and a permanent name is decided upon.
Introduction. In December 2024, the debate on metallic mining in El Salvador took a significant turn. President Nayib Bukele, through a series of posts on Twitter, claimed that the country has gold reserves valued at $3 trillion.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York houses the world's largest gold repository 80 feet beneath Manhattan's bedrock. This vault contains approximately 507,000 bars with a market value exceeding $250 billion, primarily serving as a secure custodian for foreign governments and central banks.
The rules do vary depending on where in the states you are planning to search for gold but, largely, as long as the use is recreational and you're not using any sluices or high-powered tools, any gold findings should be yours to keep.
In a few places gold is sufficiently concentrated in the rocks for it to be worth mining. Australia (especially Western Australia) is the one of the world's top producers of gold. About 60% of Australia's gold resources occur in Western Australia, with the remainder in all other States and the Northern Territory.
$100,000 worth of gold looks surprisingly small, often just a small stack of coins or a single large bar, because gold is so dense; it's roughly 22 to 27 one-ounce coins or around 3 to 4 kilograms (7-9 lbs), depending on the current price (around $2,900-$3,700/oz in late 2025/early 2026), appearing as a compact, heavy pile, not a huge amount.
Uranium is a naturally occurring element with an average concentration of 2.8 parts per million in the Earth's crust. Traces of it occur almost everywhere. It is more abundant than gold, silver or mercury, about the same as tin and slightly less abundant than cobalt, lead or molybdenum.
1. Antimatter - $59.8 trillion (approx. £49 trillion) per gram.
Understanding 1 Gram Of Francium: More
That's a billion dollars for something that vanishes from existence in less than an hour.
Space, or outer space, is a vast, near-perfect vacuum largely devoid of matter. This vacuum contains very few particles compared with Earth's atmosphere. However, it's not entirely empty. Space is dotted with scattered matter called the interstellar medium, which includes hydrogen and helium atoms.
About 95% of the universe is "invisible" because it's composed of dark matter (around 27%) and dark energy (around 68%), which don't emit, absorb, or reflect light, unlike the normal matter (stars, planets, us) that makes up the visible 5%. Dark matter's presence is inferred through its gravitational pull on visible galaxies, while dark energy is a mysterious force causing the universe's accelerated expansion.
In our solar system, Mercury and Venus are the only two planets that do not have any moons, primarily because they are so close to the Sun that its intense gravity makes it difficult for any potential moon to maintain a stable orbit. Mercury's small size and proximity, combined with Venus's slow, retrograde rotation, mean neither planet can hold onto natural satellites.
1. Tungsten: The Strongest Metal on Earth. Of all the metals, tungsten reigns supreme in terms of tensile strength. Coming in at an ultimate strength of 1510 Megapascals, tungsten is one of the toughest metals known to man.
The Earth's crust is approximately 21 miles deep, and even that is less than 1% of the planet's overall volume. It is safe to assume then that we will never exhaust the Earth's metal resources in their entirety.
Here are some of the more useful metals that do not rust.