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From the very ancient times man has a deep fascination for this shiny yellow coloured metal which symbolizes affluence.
The statues and temples of our gods and goddesses are decorated with gold ornaments. Kings and Emperors always gave great importance to gold. Man has always shown a great affinity for it. What is so special about gold that it has always been costly and tends to become costlier?
The increasing preciousness of a substance depends on many factors. First is its rare availability. Second factor is its utility, third is its beauty and fourth is the least reactivity with air and water. Gold is an element that possesses all the four qualities. Its colour and shine are very attractive. It is not affected by heat, cold, wind and humidity. No wonder, it has become a costly metal.
Gold is a shining metal of yellow colour, found in nature in very small quantity. It is found in both free and combined states. Extracting gold from its ores is a costly process. An exception was a small rock of seventy and a half kilogram found in Victoria, Australia which yielded seventy kilograms of pure gold. But such rocks are rare. Extremely small quantity of gold is obtained from gold mines. It is traceable in sea water also, but its extraction from sea is uneconomical. It also occurs as fine grains in sand and gravel.
A significant portion of world’s total gold production is used in ornaments. Gold is used in medicines and dentistry also. Till 1914, currencies in different countries were exchanged in terms of gold only. Now, the Governments when printing currencies have to keep a deposit of an equivalent quantity of gold. Even today the entire international trade is conducted with the help of gold. It is a soft and malleable metal; hence it can be easily converted into thin leaves. Thin layers of gold can be coated on other metals also. Some other metals like copper etc. are mixed in it to make it hard; it is not attacked by most acids and alkalis but dissolves in aqua regia, mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid in the ratio of 1:3.
Gold is means of accumulating wealth. Since the price of gold has been increasing constantly, people purchase it and hoard it instead of currency notes.
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gold