Andre Azevedo

Honors Chemistry

Mr. Crano

December 17th, 2020

The Ornament of the Element Gold

In the element Gold, just like any other element it has many properties that scientists discovered

and tested on this element to figure out these certain characteristics. It has both chemical and

physical properties. Some of Gold’s physical properties consist of yellow with a shiny tint along

with it. Its melting point is at around

1338 Kelvin or 1949 Fahrenheit.

Gold can be very ductile and

malleable. Its density is 19.3 grams.

This physical characteristic is also

very surprising to be involved with gold

but, gold is very good conductor to start

electricity. For the chemical properties,

gold can be reacted into certain acids but

on the other hand it cannot react with non-

metals except for halogens. The element Gold is used in several different daily objects and some

things that people would never expect for Gold to be involved with. The object gold is used the

most towards is Jewelry. When people think about Gold, Jewelry is the first thing people think

of. Gold is also used towards money, such as the gold “nuggets” and “bars”. Gold can be used all

around the world to be traded for lots of money. People can find the worth of their Gold by first

finding the purity of the amount of gold in the Karats. Karats can be measured between 1 karat

and 24 karats. Whenever the purity of the gold is final, it needs to be weighed on a scale so they

can get the final price of the Gold per gram. Like in this article it says that “if the gold is selling

for 1,200 per troy ounce, the value of a 10g piece that is 12karats would be calculated like this:

Weight is 10g, Purity is 50% (12k = 12/24 or .5), price per gram $38.585 ($1,200/31.1) and
calculation is 10 x .5 x 38.585 which comes out to $192.92 for this piece” (Bell, 2020). Gold is

also used in many unusual things such as dentistry, medicine, and manufacturing. In dentistry,

gold is used for the fillings and crowns of teeth. For medicine, Gold’s nanoparticles are involved

with the process of chemotherapy. In manufacturing, gold is used for the process of welding.

Like any other element on the periodic table, each other elements have a certain electron

configuration. The electron configuration with the noble abbreviation for gold is [Xe] 6s1 4f14

5d10. Gold was discovered thousands of years by a group of Mesopotamians. Gold was founded

in its natural state and being founded underground and in streams. In 2600 B.C. those

Mesopotamians discovered gold and made the first kinds of jewelry and designs. Over time, the

same people ended up expanding the use of gold and designed big objects such as the tomb of

Tutankhamen in 1223 B.C. In 700 B.C. gold, including silver, was being used with coins and

would become very valuable. A couple hundred years later, Gold was first discovered in the

United States when a man named John Marshall found some signs of gold near a mill in

Sacramento. As people began to hear about this exciting news, many people all around the world

came to search for Gold all around the area which was and still is California.

Resources)

The History of Gold. (2018,

August 24).

https://goldprice.com/project/the-history-of-gold/.
 Bell, T. How to Determine the Value of Your Gold Jewelry. The Balance Everyday.
https://www.thebalanceeveryday.com/how-to-price-scrap-gold-2339881.

Fisher, D. (2020, May 28). 15 Awesome Uses of Gold [Definitive List]: Physical Gold Ltd.
Physical Gold. https://www.physicalgold.com/insights/15-uses-gold/.

Gold Properties. http://www.elementalmatter.info/gold-properties.htm.