Vincent Pindell

12/13/18
Mr. Crano
Honors Chemistry

Gold Ornament Project Research Paper

What makes gold such a special element? According to bbc.com, “Their latest figure for

all the gold in the world is 171,300 tonnes”. That might seem as if it is a large number but for

centuries to modern day, gold has been very hard to come by due to its high value and luscious

charm.

Gold has been highly valued by many different cultures for centuries. According to

bebusinessed.com, “The first firm evidence we have of human interaction with gold occurred in ancient

Egypt around 3,000 B.C.” The Egyptians first started using gold as currency, and also used gold for

jewelry and precious possessions that they had. This element also served as a significant symbol for

royalty which is displayed through ancient times including the birth of Jesus when one of the Magi

delivers gold to the child because the privacy that he is the Lord of all creation and rules the heavens.

They would often create the high-ranking official’s tombs with this precious material because of its sense

of wealth and desire. Soon after, the Ancient Greeks discovered gold and used as currency, social status,

but more importantly to praise the gods and goddesses of their Greek mythology. They also carried this

sense of pride through the creation of the Olympics by placing the gold medal as the reward for first place

rather than silver and bronze which are for the participants that achieve second or third through the event.

These views of gold that were seen many centuries ago exist today due to its high value, and rarity on

Earth.
 Next, what are the properties of gold? Well, since golds atomic number is seventy-nine, it

is related to many properties of transition metals. For instance, it is a good conductor of heat, it

has a high-density point, it is malleable, and it is lustrous creating a bright yellow color of the

element. Gold also has a melting point of 1,984 Degrees Fahrenheit and can combine into alloys

such as copper, silver, or platinum. The reactivity of gold is very low due to its stable isotope,

and electron configuration in the D-subshell. These properties ultimately create the strong vital

element that we see in our modern day.

Furthermore, Gold is used for many purposes today such as jewelry, electronics, and

coins. It is a unique element because it uses a scale called carats, that consists from one to

twenty-four with one being almost “fool's gold’ meaning fake gold and twenty-four being pure

gold. According to gold.org. “The minimum caratage for an item to be called gold varies by

country. In the US, 10 carat is the legal minimum accepted standard of gold caratage, 14 carat

being the most popular.” This explains that most jewelry is not actual completely real gold due to

the price of this element. Gold is also used in technology because of its good conductivity to

heat. Due to its conductivity, gold can be placed inside computers to carry out heat and

electricity though electronics so that the equipment does not overheat or explode. Gold is also

present in the United States through the treasury of gold located at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

According to usmint.gov, “Fort Knox is protected by the United States Mint Police, and the

officers are hand-selected by the U.S. Mint Headquarters in Washington.” This explains that the

workers inside the building are highly trained individuals, and the United States Government is

not messing around due to the amount of pure gold that is inside those doors. Usmint.gov also
states on their website that not even one person knows all the combinations in order to pass the

locked doors of the pure gold bars inside. This establishment is so secure, even Goldfinger

cannot even break into the vault!

In conclusion, gold is a very important element in our world today due to the vast amount

of uses that it covers. Consider if we did not even have the discovery of gold. How many lives

would be changed from the Egyptians, the Romans, Greeks, and the forty-niners in the United

States in search for gold in the nineteenth century?

Ancient Egyptian Jewlry

View of what inside Fort Knox looks like