Gold bullion is certainly the world's most popular precious object, and its value continues to fascinate even the most seasoned collectors and investors. But how do you calculate the volume of a gold bar, and at the same time ensure that you're dealing with pure, unadulterated material? Here's some food for thought.

Calculate the volume of a gold ingot

Of course, a simple calculation allows us to find out the volume of a gold bar: given that a bar takes the form of a classic rectangular parallelepiped, we can multiply the length by the width and height as follows: Lxlxh. Alas, it would be too simple to calculate the volume of a gold bar in this way! Because gold has a certain value, which is expressed by its "density". The denser the gold, the more valuable it is.

Obtaining the density of a gold ingot

Density is a property that represents the quantity of matter (or mass) located in a given space (a unit of volume). In other words, density is expressed as the ratio between the mass of an object and its volume. We know, for example, that the mass of gold is 19.3 grams per 1 cm3 (i.e. 19.3 kg per liter, or almost 20 times a liter of water!). At least, this is the expected result for 24-carat gold, reputed to have a purity equivalent to 99.99%.

Consider a 14-carat gold plate, whose dimensions are expressed in millimeters: 15mmx10mmx1mm. The volume of the plate is therefore 15x10x1 = 150 mm3, or 15 cm3. Knowing that the density of 14-carat gold is 14.5g/cm3, the weight of the plate is 15×14.5=217.5g.