The science behind gold
Gold is unique amongst the noble metals due both to its distinctive yellow color and near complete non-reactivity with other elements. Indeed, it is precisely this non-reactivity which leads to gold having relatively few industrial uses and, to the extent it is used, makes gold relatively easy to re-extract and recycle either for other industrial uses or to be moved back into bullion or jewellery form. Gold's malleability and ductility are legendary, with a single gram of leaf able to cover one square meter. (If beaten thinly enough, gold becomes semi-transparent, allowing blue and green light to pass through. Small amounts of gold can also stretch into long wires without snapping.
Gold's density and rarity combined with near-universal desirability imply a high density of value. This allows for low high-security vaulting costs for even highly valuable amounts of bullion. Indeed, a huge amount of gold, valued in the billions of dollars, can be stored in vaults of only a few cubic metres. The same cannot be said of other metals, nor of physical cash.
Gold's unique properties, near-zero reactivity and entropy, the lowest storage costs and highest liquidity of all noble metals make gold the monetary metal par excellence. If there is to be a single global metal-based monetary standard in the future, as could result from the chronic and widespread mismanagement of fiat currencies generally, gold is not only in first place for remonetisation; it is simply miles ahead of the other noble metals. Whether that ever comes about or not, anyone wanting to preserve value in all possible circumstances: good times, bad times, very bad times, revolution, war, you name it, gold is the obvious metal to acquire and accumulate.