Whenever you hear someone talking about the element gold, what is the first thing that you begin to think about? For many, they envision a mountain of the material; some think of gold bouillons while others think of what they could do if they had an infinite amount of the material to their selves.
Finding out where gold occurs, and how it came to be are relatively important in figuring out why this element is of a large significance in our everyday lives. The atomic number for gold is 79. This number actually pinpoints the fact that gold is one of the higher atomic number elements that occur through natural means.
All elements that were ever found on the earth were given their very own atomic number. Gold is said to have formed from a supernova nucleosynthesis process. The explosions that took place are what caused this material to be scattered throughout the world, and inadvertently make its way back to planet earth.
Although there have been many different experiments done on the element itself, trying to pinpoint the actual way that this gold showed up on the earth is actually a difficult thing for anyone to have to explain.
On the earth, whenever you see the metal gold, often times you will notice that it appears as a solid solution that is normally grouped together with silver. We have all heard the expression gold silver alloy utilized, this is why this expression holds such precedence, is because gold is normally always accompanied by some kind of silver when found in its natural form.
Normally, a gold silver alloy contains about 8-10% silver content. Electrum which is an elemental version of gold contains more than 20% silver. Whenever gold is accompanied by an immense amount of silver, its specific gravity as well as its value is decreased.
Gold is commonly found in ores and is made up of rock that consists of small or microscopic particles of the element. This gold ore that is found naturally on the earth is normally found together with other minerals as well, one of these minerals is known as Fools Gold or pyrite.
Native gold is normally found in flakes or grains. You may also find native gold in larger nuggets; however the most prominent way that this element is found is normally in its flakey form. The larger nuggets you will notice are eroded onto rocks and actually end up being alluvial deposits.
Free gold, which is the gold that is found on these nuggets, is always considered to be a richer type of the element. This particular type of gold, you can find on the surface without any ailments. Oxidation is actually what ceases the weathering effects of these nuggets.
Gold will sometimes occur combined with tellurium and also can be found in many different minerals. Gold also occurs in rare alloys such as copper, lead and mercury. Gold is still found through natural means today, however the fascination with this element has died down immensely because of the abundance that we presently have of this substance.
