Can someone explain the concept of gold to me?

If you dont understand how gold keeps its value, its probably not an investment for you.

Gold's value:

1. Unlike other things of value, gold will stay gold 1000 years from now. It doesn't go bad, it doesn't rust, it doesn't break down.
2. It has a fixed amount. Can't be made up.
3. People have been recognizing it as a store of value for thousands of years.

It's shinny and nice to look at.

But there are things that gold isn't great at.
1. Very hard to break down in smaller units if it is used in transaction.
2. very hard to tell real/fake
3. have to store it somewhere
4. government can confiscate it.

The one thing you need to know about those commercials is how they preach the dollar will go to 0 and youll need gold to protect against that.......yet they'll only accept your dollar in exchange for the gold.

i told my father the same thing when he recently bought gold. If the dollar is so bad why are they selling you the gold and taking your money. He just looked at me like I was stupid

Strictly speaking in terms of physical trading and storing. What can gold be used for that makes it valuable? In my mind I only view it as a precious metal for jewelry with little to no utility value. I'd rather have bought water, fuel, or ammo. Am I crazy?

I also do not understand the concept of gold as currency. Why not rice? Why not grains? What makes gold different from diamonds or dirt? There are a limited amount of both (natural diamonds).

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Why not rice? Why not grains? 

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If you store, Rice and grains will eventually go bad if you store them.

They are food meant and are to be eaten. You can trade them in a barter system but they are not a good medium of excange like money or gold. If you want a watermelon and you have a bag of rice to trade, how long will it take you to acquire the watermelon? WHat if the watermelon guy don't want the rice? That's why having a medium of exchange makes transaction smooth an easy.

Problem with fiat is that it can be printed. Go look at the dollar value chart over time. That's why some gold bugs buy gold. I'd say diversify and own a little bit of everything.

Great answer and I understand all that, but why gold? I guess that's my real question. It's price is completely artribary and how do you pay for said watermelon with gold? What makes it different from diamonds and tulips? Tulips are why I am pessimistic about precious metals.

Lol my post above yours expresses that exact concern.

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What can gold be used for that makes it valuable? In my mind I only view it as a precious metal for jewelry with little to no utility value. I'd rather have bought water, fuel, or ammo. Am I crazy?

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Chances are whatever you used to make that post has gold in it. Only 2 other elements are better conductors.

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According to the World Gold Council, a single mobile device contains up to 50 milligrams of gold. That’s a tiny amount but nearly 1 billion cell phones are produced each year.

Gold can also be found in most standard desktop and laptop computers. The precious metal is used in a CPU’s memory chip and motherboard, allowing parts of your computer to receive power and communicate with each other.

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