The versatility of gold

Gold is a dense, lustrous, yellow precious metal with the chemical symbol Au. But you already knew that, because gold is everywhere, with a total 197,576 tonnes existing above ground as of 2019. And it’s everywhere because it’s a pretty colour, incredibly malleable, a good conductor of electricity and heat, and is one of the least reactive chemical elements, meaning that it doesn’t tarnish or corrode. Because it has all these characteristics, gold has found hundreds of uses over thousands of years, some of which you’ll be more familiar with than others.

Gold jewellery

Gold jewellery can be traced back to around 4,400 BC, although there is every chance that it was first crafted and worn earlier than this. Gold jewellery was particularly popular amongst the ancient Egyptians, and some of the world’s most famous and historic gold jewellery was discovered in the tomb of King Tutankhamun, who reigned from 1334-1325BC. Items found in his tomb include necklaces, bracelets, and amulets.

Gold leaf

Gold leaf is gold that has been hammered into thin sheets. Most often gold leaf is 91.7% pure gold, or 22-karats (pure gold is 24-karats). Layering gold leaf over a surface is called gold leafing or gilding, and is incredibly popular in art and architecture. Gold leaf also rather bizarrely has culinary uses, despite not having any flavour. For example, gold leaf is popular in India for decorating festive dishes, and the Swiss drink Goldschläger contains little flecks of gold leaf*.

*side note: avoid this drink at all costs it is the drink of the devil and nothing good can come of it

Gold in infra-red shielding

In the same way that your sunglasses protect your eyes from harmful UV-rays, NASA uses gold in the visors of astronauts to protect them from infrared rays. An ultra-thin layer of gold has been used in the outer visors of space helmets since the 1960s. The gold allows visible light to pass through, but reflects infrared, so protecting the astronauts’ eyes and skin while they are in space. Effectively, these gold shields are doing the same job in space as the ozone layer does for us each day on earth.

Gold in glass

For centuries red-coloured glass has been created by adding gold to molten glass. The effect of gold on the glass is significant, even though it has to be used in very low concentrations of around 0.001% to produce a richly coloured ‘gold ruby’ glass. Even lower concentrations produce a less intense red, often called as ‘cranberry glass’. Although red glass was produced almost from the time that glassmaking began, the knowledge of how to make gold ruby was gained and lost several times throughout the years, until it was really popularised by European royals in the 17th century.

Some other uses

There are so many other uses of gold that I haven’t been able to go into here, but here are a few others for you:

  • The first gold coins were minted under the order of King Croesus of Lydia (a region of present-day Turkey) in about 560 BC.
  • Gold is an effective medicine for controlling some types of arthritis, and in particular rheumatoid arthritis.
  • The use of gold in dentistry dates back to early as 700 BC, when gold wire was used to fasten replacement teeth into patients’ mouths. 
  • As gold is such a good conductor of electricity it is a common component of motherboards, microchips and circuitry in electronic devices such as mobiles and computers.

Comments

  1. JeanieFebruary 20, 2021 at 8:06 AM

    So interesting - astronauts' sunglasses to Goldschläger, all in one blog!

    ReplyDelete
  2. BridgetFebruary 20, 2021 at 8:07 AM

    I concur with your wise words on goldschlager! Also then if we all had gold from the loads of it about, could we do without the ozone layer I wonder 🤔

    ReplyDelete

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