Gold Scientific Facts

Gold is like no other metal on the planet. Gold’s history is a fascinating one indeed and holds a special place in the world. Since the beginning of recorded history is has been used as a currency, a standard for global currencies, as ornaments for kings and today it is used in medical applications and a vast amount of electronic devices use it in their construction

Gold has many unique properties, gold is an extraordinary rare metal with an unmatched combination of Physical and chemical properties. Gold is the only yellow metal and receives its name from the old English word for yellow, “geolu”. Gold is also the only metal that will form no oxide films on its surface in air at normal temperatures, this means it will never tarnish or rust.

The chemical symbol for gold is Au and comes from the Latin word for gold, aurum. The periodic Table of Elements classifies gold as a conventional metal. Gold’s characteristics are listed below.

·         Gold Chemical Symbol – Au

·         Gold Atomic Number – 79

·         Gold Atomic Mass – 196.96655 amu

·         Number of protons and electrons – 79

·         Number of neutrons – 118

·         Gold Melting Point – 1064.43C 1947.97F

·         Gold Boiling point – 2807C 1337.58F

·         Gold Density at 239’K 19.32 grams per cubic centimeter

·         Gold Crystal Structure is cubic

Gold may be alloyed with an assortment of other metals to give it special properties. In its untainted form, gold has a metallic luster and is sun yellow, but when mixed or alloyed with other metals, such as silver , copper, zinc, nickel, platinum, palladium, tellurium, or iron it creates an assortment of color hues ranging from silver-white to green and orange-red. Usually, red, yellow and green gold is made by adding varying amounts of copper and silver to produce alloys of 10 to 14 carats. White gold has by tradition been made by alloying nickel, zinc and copper with gold, but more recently silver and palladium have replaced the zinc. These color variation treatments to gold are mostly used in jewelry design.

Other scientific gold facts:

·         Gold-coated visors protected astronauts' eyes from bright sunlight on the Apollo 11 moon landing.

·         Gold can be hammered into sheets so thin that light can pass through.

·         High purity gold reflects infrared energy almost completely, making it ideal for heat and radiation reflection.

·         Gold is an excellent and reliable conductor.

·         A single ounce of gold can be drawn into a wire five miles long.

·         Gold is also an excellent conductor of thermal energy.

·         Gold is used in many electronic processes to draw heat away from delicate instruments.

·         Gold has been used in medicine since 1927, when it was found to be useful in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.