What is the chemical symbol for gold?
The chemical symbol for gold is Au. It comes from aurum, the Latin word for gold. Gold is element number 79 on the periodic table.
Many chemical symbols come from Latin names rather than English ones. Silver is Ag from argentum, iron is Fe from ferrum, lead is Pb from plumbum and copper is Cu from cuprum. The Swedish chemist Jöns Jacob Berzelius introduced this system of one- and two-letter symbols in the early 1800s.
Gold is a dense, soft, yellow metal that does not rust or tarnish, because it hardly reacts with air or water. That is why gold jewelry and ancient gold objects still shine after thousands of years. It is also an excellent conductor of electricity and is used in small amounts in phones and computers.
How much gold is there?
All the gold ever mined would fit into a cube about 22 meters on each side. Gold is so malleable that a single gram can be hammered into a sheet about one square meter in area, thin enough for light to pass through.
Did You Know?
Most of Earth's gold sank into the planet's core when it formed. The gold we mine today is thought to have arrived later, partly through meteorite impacts.