Quick gold facts

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (Latin Aurum meaning shining dawn)

Gold has chemical number 79, between Platinum (Pt) and Mercury (Hg).

Gold has been used for centuries as money and in jewelry.

Gold can be found as nuggets, underground veins and in alluvial deposits.

Gold in its pure form has a bright yellow color.

Gold is basis for monetary standard used by IMF (international monetary fond).

Gold is most malleable and ductile of all known metals.

Gold does not react with most chemicals.

Gold can be damaged by chlorine, fluorine, aqua regia and cyanide.

Gold dissolves in mercury creating amalgam alloys in process.

Gold can be confirmed in certain item with nitric acid (so called "acid test")

A single gram of gold can be beaten into a sheet of one square meter and gold leaf can be beaten thin enough to become translucent.

Gold forms alloys with many other metals.

Gold jewelry. Click on picture for full size.

Gold is very good conductor of heat and electricity.

Gold is excellent for use in jewelry since heat, moisture air and most corrosive agents have almost none effect on it.

Gold is very dense, with a cubic meter weighing 19300 kg/m3 which is not far away from the densest element iridium (22650 kg/m3).

Gold in its pure form is too soft for use and therefore gets hardened by alloying (usually with copper).

Gold content of gold alloys is measured in carats and pure gold is labeled as 24 carats though 22 carats is historical tradition.

Gold labeled with lower carats (i.e.22 k,18 k,) contains higher percentages of copper, silver or some other base metal.

Gold is chemically very stable element.

Gold has a relatively low melting point (1063 °C.)

Gold crystallizes in the cubic system, forming octahedral and dodecahedral crystals, often distorted into dendritic or leafy growths.

Most gold contains at least some silver.

Gold won't tarnish, discolor, crumble, or be affected by most solvents.

Gold nugget has usually 70-90 % of gold.

The more silver gold has the more whiter it gets.

Largest producer of gold is South Africa, about one-quarter to one-third of the world's annual gold production, and just behind is China (according to some experts China will soon overtake South Africa).

California and Colorado are US gold regions.

Most Gold is mined from ore, containing tiny amounts of Gold in the ore.

Gold is one of the heaviest minerals.

Gold is base for money. American gold eagle coin. Click on picture for full size.

Gold has special place in human history because of its resistance, beauty, rareness, and the fact that it is very easy to work with.

Gold is used for photography, dentistry, coloring, and is even being studied for treatments in cancer (isotope gold-198).

White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, usually nickel or palladium.

White gold alloys became fashionable in the 1920's, mainly as a substitute for platinum.

White gold alloys usually use nickel, which has the great advantage of being inexpensive and relatively providing.

US is the 4th largest gold producer behind South Africa, China and Australia.

In ancient and medieval times gold was often seen as good luck charm for health, since its rarity and beauty couldn't be anything but healthy.

Gold leaf, flakes and even dust is used in some gourmet foodstuffs (sweets and drinks as for instance Goldwasser (Goldwater) is a traditional herbal liqueur produced in Gdansk, Poland and Schwabach Germany containing flakes of gold leaf and there are some expensive gold cocktails containing flakes of gold leaf although this really has no effect on body chemistry leaving the body unaltered.

Gold alloys are used in dentistry (i.e. gold crowns).

Gold will produce intense red color when used as a coloring agent in cranberry glass.

Gold is also used in photography in form of gold toners.

Gold is also used for electrical wiring in some high energy applications (although silver is more conductive per volume and it's cheaper).

Gold is very often used in the connectors of the more expensive electronics cables.

Gold medal is traditional reward to winners such as the Olympics.

Gold is a good reflector of infrared and visible light.

Gold has been known since prehistoric times.

Alchemists tried to produce gold from other substances (lead).

19th century is also famous for many gold rushes (mostly California and Colorado in US).

The average gold mining and extraction costs are $238 per troy ounce (although it can vary widely depending on mining type and ore quality).

Gold is very rare (only three parts out of every billion in the earth's crust is gold).

Naturally occuring gold from Bohemia. Click on picture for full size.

Golden crown was symbol of leaders (kings in medieval times symbolizing the eternal shining light of heaven).

Pure gold is non-toxic and non-irritating when ingested and is approved as food additive in EU (E 175).

Gold was very often used in mythology even from the earliest days of ancient civilizations. In Egypt gold was symbol of their sun god Ra. Inca's believed gold was the sweat of the sun and even famous Trojan war started with the infamous golden apple. Greek mythology is also famous for golden fleece that Jason and his argonauts searched for .

Gold was very much adored among mortals, not only in life but also in death as the pharaohs and other rulers carried their golden objects even in their tombs in order to show their meaning, even in afterlife.

According to Financial times China has ended South African dominance in the gold production as it become world's biggest gold producer. Chinese gold output was in 2007, 276 tonnes which is 12 % increase from 2006 which is 4 tonnes bigger than South African with 272 tonnes.

South Africa was dominant force for more than 100 years but since the 70's its gold production is having constant decrease while China boosted its output in the last decade by more than 70 %.