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Interesting Facts About Gold

Bidisha Mukherjee
Gold is something that fascinates people across all age groups, and ethnic backgrounds. Here's a look at some rather interesting facts about this precious metal.
Gold is a precious metal which is well-known for its shiny, yellow color. It got its name from an Anglo-Saxon world 'gelo', which means yellow.
In Chemistry, it has been assigned with the symbol 'Au' which has been derived from the Latin word 'aurum', that denotes shining dawn. This metal has been considered as a sign of prosperity right since ancient times.

Interesting Facts About Gold
The metal is found on the surface of the earth in metallic nuggets or grains. The largest source of naturally occurring gold are the oceans. However, as the process of extracting this element from the ocean is extremely high, it is not a commercially viable option for obtaining the metal.
In the periodic table, this chemical element is positioned in group 11, and is categorized as a transition metal.
It is often referred to as a noble metal. This is because in its purest form, the metal does not get rusted, corroded or tarnished, nor is it soluble in any acid.

There are only two metals that have a non-white color. One of them is Gold and the other one is Copper.
Elemental Gold is very soft, and has high malleability and ductility. Just one ounce of this metal can be shaped into a thin semi-permanent sheet of one meter square. Similarly, an ounce of this metal can also be drawn into a thread of 50 miles length and 5 microns of diameter.

Other Interesting Facts
The largest consumption of Gold in the world is for the making of jewelry. In fact, almost 50% of the metal is used for this purpose. 40% of it is used for investment purposes, and the remaining 10% is for industrial use.
The biggest producer of mined Gold in the world is South Africa, and the largest amount of the precious metal is used by India. In fact, as much as 25% of the world's Gold is purchased by Indians for jewelry purposes.
The unit of measuring the purity of this metal is known as carat. 1 carat = 200 mg. The metal is in its purest form in 24 carat.

Gold being a soft metal, is mixed with other metals like silver and copper, to make it hard.
There are various other uses of the metal other than jewelry making. Since it is a good conductor of electricity, and is malleable and ductile, it is widely used in the manufacture of electronic products and equipment. This includes computers, cellular phones, and telephones.
It has excellent reflective powers because of which it is used in satellites, and spacecraft to provide protection from the harmful effects of solar radiation. It is used in some specific models of cars for the purpose of heat dissipation.
It plays a significant role in dentistry where it is used for dental filing. Research is on about other possible medical uses of this metal in the treatment of diseases.
Even if consumed, it does not have any toxic effect on human health. However, some people may get skin allergies after coming in contact with Gold. This is more common in women than in men.