This week, it IS gold!
Though I’ve written about alchemical metals and even how to make gold, I haven’t actually sat down and churned out a post about gold. So here goes. 🙂
Gold, to paraphrase The Complete Periodic Table, is neither the rarest nor the most expensive element out there — but it is the most sought after. But aside from being pretty, what does it really have going for it? Here are some fast facts:
- One of the really great things about gold is its resistance to corrosion. This means all that ancient jewelry still looks nice today, but also, it means that gold can be found in a pure form just lying around in the earth’s crust.
- Gold is soft for a metal, and easily polished, making it natural to work with.
- Gold is also a great conductor of electricity! While ancient alchemists probably didn’t realize this, it is an important function of gold today. Gold is often used in electronics.
And just to give a sense of gold’s uses, here are a few more facts. If all the gold in use in the world today was melted down in one big pot, it could form a cube measuring just over 65 feet on each side. About half of all that gold is found in jewelry; another forty percent is in banks, and the remaining ten is in electronics or other tech.
Oh, and the carat system? 24 carat is the most pure. But 22, 18, 14, and 9 carat gold is also available. Technically, those are alloys: the gold is mixed with other metals.
Here’s hoping the rest of your summer is golden! 😉
Selected Resources
Dingle, Adrian, and Dan Green. The Complete Periodic Table: More Elements with Style. Basher Science, Kingfisher, New York: 2015.
Jackson, Tom. The Elements: An Illustrated History of the Periodic Table. Shelter Harbor Press, New York: 2020.
