Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from Latin: aurum) and atomic number 79, making it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. In its purest form, it is a bright, slightly reddish yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions.

Characteristics

Gold is the most malleable of all metals. It can be drawn into a monoatomic wire, and then stretched about twice before it breaks. Such nanowires distort via formation, reorientation and migration of dislocations and crystal twins without noticeable hardening.

Occurrence

Gold is thought to have been produced in supernova nucleosynthesis, and from the collision of neutron stars, and to have been present in the dust from which the Solar System formed.

History

The history of gold is long connected with money, but gold relinquished this role in developed economies after the outbreak of the Second World War. At the end of the war, the Bretton Woods monetary system, a regime of fixed exchange rates, was created. This system broke down in 1971 when the US unilaterally ended its gold standard, which set the convertibility of gold and the dollar to $35 per ounce.

Applications

Gold has a wide range of uses in the modern world. It is used in jewelry, electronics, and for other industrial uses. In medicine, gold has some uses as well, such as in the treatment of a condition called rheumatoid arthritis.

Health effects

Gold has a reputation of being non-toxic. However, some gold salts can cause a condition called gold poisoning, and there is some evidence to suggest that colloidal gold can cause similar effects if overused.

See also

• Chemical element
• Transition metal
• Supernova nucleosynthesis
• Bretton Woods monetary system
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Gold poisoning

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