[wpietri]

No, we mostly make it into jewelry. It also has various industrial uses. Like any commodity, some of it ends up getting stored. And some of it also serves as a shelf-stable form of collateral. But mostly it gets used:

http://geology.com/minerals/gold/uses-of-gold.shtml

I suspect that even a lot of the "investment" uses of gold are much more about human emotional needs. I helped someone sort out the house of a deceased elderly relative. There was quite a bit of stuff purchased and stored away: coins, silver, gold. A number were of the Franklin Mint variety, where they wildly overprice the metal:

http://coins.thefuntimesguide.com/2008/11/franklin_mint_coin...

I'm sure the guy was happy with his purchase, but as investments go it was a terrible idea. He would have been much better off putting his money in index funds.