COMMODITY INVESTMENT GROUP, INC.

Gold Facts, information and data about gold Gold is a metallic element, with the following properties:- Properties Chemical Symbol: Au Atomic Number: 79 Atomic Weight: 196.96655 CAS Registry ID (Chemical Abstracts Service registry number): 7440-57-5 Group number: 11 Group name: Coinage metal Period number: 6 Block: d-block Standard state: solid at 298 K Colour: gold, although when finely powdered may appear black, red, or purple. Classification: Metallic Melting point: 1337.33 °K [or 1064.18 °C = 1947.52 °F Boiling point: 3129 °K = 2856 °C = 5173 °F Liquid range: 1791.67 °K Thermal conductivity [/W m-1 K-1]: 320 Coefficient of linear thermal expansion [/K-1 multiplied by 106]: 14.2 Enthalpy of fusion [/kJ mol-1]: 12.5 Enthalpy of vaporization [/kJ mol-1]: 330 Enthalpy of atomization [/kJ mol-1]: 368 Youngs modulus [/GPa]: 78 Rigidity modulus [/GPa]: 27 Bulk modulus [/GPa]: 220 Poissons ratio [no units]: 0.44 Mineral hardness (Moe's Scale) [no units]: 2.5 Brinell hardness [/MN m-2]: 2450 Vickers hardness [/MN m-2]: 216 Electrical resistivity [/10-8 W m; or mW cm]: 2.2 Reflectivity [/%]: 95 Refractive index [no units]: no data Density of solid [/kg m-3]: 19300 Molar volume [/cm3]: 10.21 Velocity of sound [/m s-1]: 1740 NMR data Isotope 1 Isotope 197Au Natural abundance /% 100 Spin (I) 3/2 Frequency relative to 1H = 100 (MHz) 1.754000 Receptivity, DP, relative to 1H = 1.00 0.0000277 Receptivity, DC, relative to 13C = 1.00 0.158 Magnetogyric ratio, g (107 rad T-1 s-1) 0.473060 Magnetic moment, m (mN) 0.191271 Nuclear quadrupole moment, Q (barn) 0.547 Line width factor, 1056l (m4) 0.29 Electronic Configuration The following represents the electronic configuration and its associated term symbol for the ground state neutral gaseous atom. The configuration associated with gold in its compounds is not necessarily the same. Ground state electron configuration: [Xe].4f14.5d10.6s1 Shell structure: 2.8.18.32.18.1 Term symbol: 2S1/2

Other Information about Gold Availability Gold is available in many form, including wire, sheet, and foil. It is also used as an investment and store of value in the form of gold bars and gold coins. Carat Gold ( Karat Gold) For jewellery use, gold is usually alloyed to improve its working qualities because pure gold is a soft metal. The term carat describes the proportion of gold present in the alloy (24 carats is pure gold). Gold Factoid It has been estimated that all the gold in the world, so far mined and refined, would occupy a single cube of 20 metres per side. It is metallic, with a yellow colour when in a mass, but when finely divided it may be black, ruby, or purple. Malleability Gold is the most malleable and ductile metal; 1 ounce of gold can be beaten out to 300 square feet. Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity Gold is unaffected by air and most reagents. Compounds Although gold is a noble metal, being unaffected by air and most reagents, it will form compounds. The most common gold compounds being auric chloride (AuCl3) and chlorauric acid (HAuCl4). Aqua Regia A mixture of one part nitric acid with three of hydrochloric acid is called aqua regia, because it dissolves gold, the King of Metals. © Commodity Investment Group, Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.		Extraction and Isolation of Gold It would not normally be necessary to make gold in the laboratory as it is readily available commercially. Gold can be sourced by panning it from streams. Panning relies upon the density of gold (which is very high) being much greater than that of the sand and other particulates. It therefore settles to the bottom of the pan. This method is mainly used by small scale producers, mainly individual hobbyists. Today most gold is extracted from ores. These ores often contain relatively little gold. Some of these processes cause environmental concern. The ore is crushed to a powder so as to expose the small gold particles. These are dissolved by treatment of the rock with cyanide solution in air. The result of this is a gold cyanide complex. Addition of zinc powder to the resulting solution precipitates out the gold. Reactions - Formulae 4Au + 8NaCN + O2 + 2H2O------4Na[Au(CN)2] + 4NaOH 2Na[Au(CN)2] + Zn------2NaCN + Zn(CN)2 + Au (s) Colour Of all metals, the only two which are not grey in colour are gold and copper. Gold Puns There may be more, but our favourite two are:- In Gold We Trust Ingot We Trust Much of the technical data above is taken from the excellent WebElements www.webelements.com website run by Sheffield University. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data above is copyright 1996 IUPAC Sources Gold is found free in nature and associated with quartz, pyrite and other minerals. Gold constitutes about 3 parts per billion by weight of the earth's crust. Two thirds of the world's supply of gold comes from South Africa. US sources include South Dakota and Nevada. Gold is found in sea water, about 5 grams per million tonnes, although no effective economic process has yet been designed to extract it. You may prefer to think about this figure as about 20.5 kilogrammes per cubic mile, with a value of about US$230,000.