Gold is a metal with atomic number 79 and symbol Au. It is a very valuable and precious metal which is used for making jewelery, coinage and other art forms since the pre-historic period. The purity of gold is measured in terms of carats. Pure gold is 22 carats and has yellow colour and lustre, which makes it shiny and attractive. Gold is expensive but serves as a symbol of wealth and prosperity since ages. Bryan Ferry had once remarked, “All those rappers, they're the only glamorous people working in music now. They dress up in these chains of gold, cars, girls and this and that, high-heeled shoes.”
Chemically, gold is malleable and ductile. Gold is also a good conductor of electricity. Gold is also resistant to corrosion and has many practical uses in the field of electronics, dentistry etc. Jonathan swift had once remarked, “Although men are accused of not knowing their own weakness, yet perhaps few know their own strength. It is in men as in soils, where sometimes there is a vein of gold which the owner knows not of.”
