Gold Related Information
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Physical Properties of Gold
Lustre: Metallic
Diaphaneity (Transparency): Opaque
Colour: Rich yellow, paling to whitish-yellow
Streak: Shining yellow
Hardness (Mohs): 2½ - 3
Hardness (Vickers): VHN10=30 - 34 kg/mm2
Hardness Data: Measured
Tenacity: Malleable
Cleavage: None Observed
Fracture: Hackly
Density (measured): 15 - 19.3 g/cm3
Density (calculated): 19.309 g/cm3
Comment: Calculated density at 0° C.
Other Information
Fluorescence in UV light: none
Thermal Behaviour: Melting Point: 1062.4° ± 0.8°
Other Information: Completely soluble with Copper. Insoluble in acids except aqua regia, with incomplete separation if more than 20% of silver is present.
Reported as spongy alteration pseudomorphs after Calaverite (Cripple Creek).
Health Warning: No information on health risks for this material has been entered into the database. You should always treat mineral specimens with care.
Industrial Uses: Electrical conductor, transparent reflective coating, jewelry, dentistry, coinage, decorative coatings
Common Impurities: Ag,Cu,Pd
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Classification of Gold 1 : ELEMENTS (Metals and intermetallic alloys; metalloids and nonmetals; carbides, silicides, nitrides, phosphides) 1 : NATIVE ELEMENTS AND ALLOYS |
Occurrences of Gold
Geological Setting:
1) Primary hydrothermal veins
2) Volcanic
3) Alluvial
How do gold deposits form
Gold has been prized throughout the history of mankind due to its appearance, ease of working and resistance to corrosion. Although jewellery remains the major use for gold, its unique chemical and physical properties mean that it has found many diverse applications in today's world: Gold nugget
* computer circuitry
* cosmic ray protection for spacecraft and satellites
* telephones, telescopes and photocopiers
* thermometers
* nightsights and security cameras
* lasers
* dentistry, eye surgery, treatment for arthritis
* aircraft engines and windows
* heat reflecting face visors
Deposits of gold can form in many geological environments: in deep magma chambers, in ancient volcanoes or hotsprings, or in conglomerates and sandstones that might form as a result of the weathering and erosion of these gold-bearing rocks.
However, one of the most common places that gold deposits form is in ancient fault zones, many of which were active during the earliest period of Earth's history, the Archaean (more than 2.5 billion years ago). Earthquakes produced by movements on these giant faults would have been accompanied by the release of hydrothermal solutions from deep in the Earth's crust. These solutions moved up along the faults and, often as a result of effervescence of carbon dioxide gas (rather like opening a bottle of fizzy drink), precipitated gold in economic concentrations in veins of quartz.
There are many types of gold deposits including epithermal vein deposits, intrusion-related breccia pipes, mesothermal turbidite- and greenstone-hosted deposits, contact deposits (skarns), replacement deposits, disseminated ores, placers, and Archean banded-iron formation deposits.
Gold Weights & Measures
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% Gold
European System:
Gold presentKarat System:
Gold present100.0
1,000 parts fine
24 karats
91.7
917 parts fine
22 karats
75.0
750 parts fine
18 karats
58.5
585 parts fine
14 karats
50.0
500 parts fine
12 karats
41.6
416 parts fine
10 karats
Note that the karat used above designates a degree of gold purity, and is not to be confused with the carat, equaling a fifth of a gram, which is used to state the weight of a gem stone.
The Weight of gold or gold articles is usually expressed in troy ounces. The Table below provides a convenient way of translation between troy ounces and other units of weight.
Weight Equivelents
ordinary* = Avoirdupois
1 troy ounce |
1.097 ordinary* ounces |
1 troy ounce |
480 grains |
1 troy ounce |
31.1 grams |
1,000 troy ounces |
31.1 kilograms |
1 gram |
0.03215 troy ounce |
1 kilogram |
32.15 troy ounces |
I Imperial* ounce |
0.9115 troy ounce |
1 Imperial* pound |
14.58 troy ounces |
GOLD WEIGHT CONVERSION TABLE
Abbreviatons Av.=Avoirdupois, DWT = Pennyweight, LB=Pound, OZ= Ounce
| COLUMN | GRAIN | GRAM | DWT TROY |
OZ TROY |
LB TROY |
OZ AV | LB AV | KARAT |
| GRAIN | 1.0 | 0.06479 | 0.041667 | 0.00208333 | 0.00017 | 0.0022887 | 0.0001428 | 0.3240 |
| GRAM | 15.4324 | 1.0 | 0.6479 | 0.03215 | 0.0027 | 0.03527 | 0.002205 | 5.0 |
| DWT. TROY | 24.0 | 1.5517 | 1.0 | 0.05 | 0.00416 | 0.0548571 | 0.0034285 | 7.7755 |
| OZ. TROY | 480.0 | 31.10346 | 20.0 | 1.0 | 0.0833 | 1.09714 | 0.06857 | 155.51 |
| LB. TROY | 5780.0 | 373.241 | 240.0 | 12.0 | 1.0 | 13.1657 | 0.82286 | 1866.12 |
| OZ. AV. | 437.0 | 28.3495 | 18.2297 | 0.9114883 | 0.07595 | 1.0 | 0.0625 | 141.75 |
| LB. AV. | 7000.0 | 453.592 | 291.667 | 14.5833 | 1.21107 | 16.0 | 1.0 | 2267.96 |
| KARAT | 3.168 | 0.20 | 0.03215 | 0.0064304 | 0.000536 | 0.007055 | 0.000441 | 1.0 |
DIRECTIONS:
To find conversion vaules, find basic weight in left-hand column and follow this line until it intersects with the desired weight. For Example, if you desire to determine how many ounces Troy there are in a pound Troy, locate Pound Troy in the left-hand column and follow it across until you intersect with Ounce Troy, and you will find 12.0 which is the correct number of ounces Troy in one pound Troy. Then, if you want to know how many ounces there are in 2.5 pounds Troy, multiply 12 by 2.5 and arrive at a correct figure of 30 ounces Troy. Another valuable way to use this table is for comparative purposes: for comparing avoirdupois against Troy, for example. If you want to compare the relative actual weight of a pound Troy against an avoirdupois pound, follow the Poun Av. line across to the Pound Troy column and you can determine that a pound avoirdupois is equal to 1.21107 pound Troy. Using the same method, on the other hand, you will find that an ounce avoirdupois is equal to 0.9114883 ounce Troy. Anyone who buys or sells gold or silver will find hundreds of valuable applications for this table which are not immediately apparent to the casual observer.
ACID TESTING
METAL |
NITRIC ACID (HNO3) |
HYDROCLORIC ACID (HCL) |
AQUA REGIA HCL+HNO3 COMBO |
| GOLD | INSOLUBLE | INSOLUBLE | POWDERED SAMPLE WILL DISSOLVE |
| PYRITE (FOOLS GOLD) |
Fine Powder will dissolve: solution doesnt change color. | INSOLUBLE | WILL DISSOLVE |
SIMPLE ACID TEST FOR GOLD
1. USING RUBBER GLOVES AND A NON-METAL ITEM, APPLY ONE DROP OF NITRIC ACID TO THE GOLD.
2. THERE WILL BE NO REACTIONS IF THE OBJECT BEING TESTED IS GOLD. A BRIGHT GREEN REACTION MEANS THE OBJECT IS COMMON METAL. A MILKY REACTION IN THE SCRATCH MEANS IT IS GOLD OVER SILVER
Fineness of Gold in Fraser River and some Tributary streams.
Fraser River Average |
867.5 |
20.820 K |
Coquihalla River |
875.0 |
21.0 K |
Thompson River |
827.0 |
19.848 K |
Bridge River |
846.0 |
20.28 K |
Watson Bar Creek |
892.0 |
21.408 K |
Poison Mnt. Creek |
840.0 |
20.160 K |
Quesnel River |
830.0 |
19.92 K |
Cariboo River |
851.0 |
20.424 K |
Cottonwood River |
901.0 |
21.62 K |
Willow River |
893.0 |
21.43 K |
Goat River |
970.0 |
23.28 K |
Other Names for Gold
Synonyms:
Native Gold, Qori, Sol
Other Languages:
Afrikaans: Goud
Albanian: Ari
Amharic: ወርቅ
Arabic: ذهب
Armenian: Ոսկի
Asturian: Oru
Aymara: Quri
Azeri: Qızıl
Basque: Urre
Belarusian: Золата
Bengali: সোনা
Bosnian: Zlato
Bulgarian: Злато
Catalan: Or
Cherokee: ᎠᏕᎸ ᏓᎶᏂᎨ
Chuvash: Ылтăн
Corsican: Oru
Croatian: Zlato
Czech: Zlato
Danish: Guld
Dutch: Goud
Erzya: Сырне
Esperanto: Oro
Estonian: Kuld
Finnish: Kulta
French: Or
Or natif
Friulian: Aur
Galician: Ouro
Gan: 金
Georgian: ოქრო
German:Gediegen Gold
Greek: Χρυσός
Guarani: Kuarepotiju
Gujarati: સોનું
Haitian: Lò
Hakka: Kîm
Hebrew: זהב
Hindi: सोना
Hungarian: Arany
Icelandic: Gull
Ido: Oro
Indonesian: Emas
Irish Gaelic: Ór
Italian: Oro
Oro nativo
Japanese:金
自然金
Javanese: Emas
Kapampangan: Gintu
Kazakh: Алтын
Kongo: Wolo
Korean: 금
Kurdish: Zêr
Latin: Aurum
Latvian: Zelts
Limburgian: Goud
Lingala: Wólo
Lithuanian: Auksas
Lojban: solji
Low Saxon: Gold
Luxembourgish: Gold
Macedonian: Злато
Malay: Emas
Manx: Airh
Marathi: सोने
Min Nan: Au
Mongolian : Алт
Nahuatl:Cōztic teōcuitlatl
Norman: Or
Norwegian: Gull
Norwegian: Gull
Novial: Ore
Occitan: Aur
Persian: طلا
Polish: Złoto
Portuguese: Ouro
Quechua: Quri
Ripuarian: Jold
Romanian: Aur
Russian: Золото
Sanskrit: सुवर्णम्
Scottish Gaelic: Òr
Serbian: Злато
Serbo-Croatian: Zlato
Sicilian: Oru
Simplified Chinese: 金
Slovak: Zlato
Slovenian: Zlato
Spanish: Oro
Oro nativo
Swahili: Dhahabu
Swedish: Guld
Gediget Guld
Tagalog: Ginto
Tajik: Зар
Tamil: தங்கம்
Thai: ทองคำ
Traditional Chinese: 金
Turkish: Altın
Ukrainian: Золото
Urdu: سونا
Uzbek: Oltin
Venetian: Oro
Vietnamese: Vàng
Welsh: Aur
Yiddish: גאלד
Zazaki: Zern
Zhuang: Gim
Zulu: Igolide