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Gold FactsYou can catch "gold fever", be "good as
gold", and "follow the golden rule"... but do you know why
we value gold? People have valued gold for its rarity and
shining beauty for millenia: it has and still is used for
art, jewelry, currency and even filling teeth. As well, gold
has been valued in every aspect of our lives from art to
electronics to religion because of its unique properties.
Gold is incredibly soft and maleable - that means you can
pound, twist, bend and stretch it without it breaking or
tearing. Though gold has more than 19 times the mass of
water (this means that gold is more than 19 times heavier
than the same volume of water), you can pound a piece of
gold so thin that it will float to the ground like a
feather. This "gold leaf" is used to coat just about
everything: sculptures, souveniers and even cake.
Gold is a metal, one of the heaviest.
The symbol for gold is AU.
Atomic number=79
Gold is very soft.
This precious metal is heavily concentrated at the Earth's Core.
Neither acids nor corrosion that spoil other metals can spoil gold. Salt water
does not harm gold.
Gold is 19.32 times the weight of it's own volume of water.
Atomic weight=197.2
Melting point 1,945 Fahrenheit.
Pure gold is said to be 24 karat.
18-karat gold would be 18 parts gold and six parts another metal.
Natural locations: Gold is also used in many of today's electronic and
computer devices. Space travel depends on gold - from the
electronics inside to radiation shields outside. Next time
you see astronauts in outer space, try to spot all that
heavy gold they've taken with them. (Hint: try to look a
space suited astronaut in the eye.)
Would you know real
gold if you found it?
Don't be
fooled...
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