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What is gold? In chemistry we found gold containing atomic number 79 with a symbol of Au(/aurum/). It is soft, solid, pliableand malleable metal with its bright yellow color. Chemically, gold is a changeable metal and an element of group 11. It is one of the least reactive chemical components. Gold is found as grains or nuggets in veins, rocks and alluvial deposits. It is found in minerals as compounds with calaverite, sylvanite and tellurium. Gold is very malleable metal; we can flatten a single gram of gold into a sheet that covers 10 square feet. It is considered as highly precious metal for jewelry, coinage and other arts since time immemorial. Gold has been taken under monetary policies. GFMS exposes in 2012 that we have mined about 174100 tonnes gold in our history. This highly precious metal was used in 6000 BC. It was known to all from ancient time along with sulfur, mercury, tin, silver and lead. Gold has been considered as an international or universal symbol of power, wealth and status for ordinary people and the royals. The Egyptians used gold as early as 1,500 B.C as a supply of currency. The Spanish by the16th century engaged them in mining gold and the other Europeans searched for gold. Gold is naturally found linked with quartz veins that are placed in rock and stone in our earth. Who discovered gold? There is no specific answer of the question “Who discovered gold?” There is trace of using gold in the Bronze Age. It has become a part of ancient culture and used dominantly in their jewelry. The ancient king Tushratta of Mitanni claimed that gold was more ample than dirt in Egypt in 2600 BC. How did gold get its name? The word gold is derived from the German Gothic language “Gulpha” which evolved into “Geolu” in the old English language which means “yellow”. The modern name “Gold” has come into existence in the twelfth century. Strabo, Greek geographer, opens the ancient method known as "Fire-Sitting" performed for refining and extracting the gold from ore. Then we can mention the Romans who develop mining method for collecting gold including hydraulic mining. |
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