Week 2:

Gold is one of the densest of all metals. It is a good conductor of heat and electricity. It is also soft
and the most malleable and ductile of the elements; an ounce (28 grams) can be beaten out to 187
square feet (about 17 square metres) in extremely thin sheets called gold leaf.

Because gold is visually pleasing and workable and does not tarnish or corrode, it was one of the first
metals to attract human attention. Examples of elaborate gold workmanship, many in nearly perfect
condition, survive from ancient Egyptian, Minoan, Assyrian, and Etruscan artisans, and gold
continues to be a highly favoured material out of which to craft jewellery and other decorative
objects.

Gold has been used to make ornamental objects and jewellery for thousands of years. Gold
nuggets found in a stream are very easy to work and were probably one of the first metals used by
humans. Today, most of the gold that is newly mined or recycled is used in the manufacture of
jewellery. About 78% of the gold consumed each year is used in the manufacture of jewellery.

Special properties of gold make it perfect for manufacturing jewellery. These include: very high
lustre; desirable yellow colour; tarnish resistance; ability to be drawn into wires, hammered into
sheets, or cast into shapes. These are all properties of an attractive metal that is easily worked into
beautiful objects. Another extremely important factor that demands the use of gold as a jewellery
metal is tradition. Important objects are expected to be made from gold.

Gold is widespread in low concentrations in all igneous rocks. Its abundance in Earth’s crust is

estimated at about 0.005 part per million. It occurs mostly in the native state, remaining chemically
uncombined except with tellurium, selenium, and bismuth. The element’s only naturally
occurring isotope is gold-197. Gold often occurs in association with copper and lead deposits, and,
though the quantity present is often extremely small, it is readily recovered as a by-product in the
refining of those base metals. 

References:

Gold. Minerals Education Coalition. (2017, December 7). Retrieved February 22, 2022,
from https://mineralseducationcoalition.org/minerals-database/Gold/ 

John. (n.d.). Gold. geology. Retrieved February 22, 2022.

from https://geology.com/minerals/Gold.shtml 

WEEK 3:

The scientific method is something everyone does on a daily basis without recognizing
the process. Everyone daily observes an action, thinks about its function, experiments
(simply adjusting or changing said action to something else) then tests it. Then modify it if
necessary. It is a pretty basic process that is constantly used throughout everyone’s days.
Last year when I travelled to Europe on a trip I realized that my younger sister was
shy whenever she was introduced to people of different culture and religion. She would
not make eye contact with them or accommodate them. I decided to do something about it
but never initiated anything. I thought this could be something I can test scientific method
on.
 So my hypothesis was that if I can introduce her to different people myself and
initiate their contact in the setting of our it may make her more comfortable. Although this
was a risk because she was very shy. So for the past three days we have been having
inviting our friends from a different background and trying to make her meet them little by
little until she seems comfortable. The first day did not go as planned, because the minute
someone she didn’t know sat down she to her room. However, on the second day I sat on
the couch with her and had my brother sit down with me and she didn’t move.  She stayed
sitting down with my brother when I got up. She finally started talking with strangers who
were different from her. So in the future I will use the same strategy.