You Asked:
If you took all the gold ever mined and melted it into one giant cube, how big would it be? — Donald, McFarland, Wis.

Marshall Answered:
The cube would be surprisingly small. Right now, in the “modern age”, with people producing as much gold as they can because it is worth $700 per ounce or so, worldwide gold production is only about 50 million ounces per year. Since gold weighs about 19.3 kilograms per liter, all of this year’s gold production would fit into a cube containing 73,000 liters. Which sounds like a lot, but is actually a cube that is 420 centimeters (or about 14 feet) on a side. That means that if you live in a typical 2,400 square foot home, all the gold produced this year would only fill about a seventh of it.

If you assume that “all the gold” humankind has ever produced is about 200 times that much, you end up with a cube that’s 82 feet on a side. Think about an eight story office building shaped like a cube. It’s about that size. For more info see: If you took all of the gold in the world and put it in one place how much would there be?