Question

Write a symbol of gold.

Answer 1

The name of gold is derived from the Latin name and not from the English name. The Latin name for gold is aurum.

Complete step by step answer:
Usually the first two letters are used for writing names of elements. The Latin name is Aurum and hence, the chemical symbol for gold is ${\text{Au}}$.

Additional information:
- The atomic number of gold is 79. It is a d block element with a higher atomic number and mass. It occurs naturally in nature. It appears as a yellowish metal. It is a typical metal and shows all the properties of a metal such as malleability, ductility and electrical conductivity. It is used for making jewellery.
- Gold is used to make thin sheets and wires which proves its ductility and malleability. It is quite unreactive metal and does not get easily oxidized in the presence of air and moisture. It is also chemically unreactive towards many acids under standard conditions.
- For this reason it occurs mostly in free State in nature in forms of grains, rocks, deposits etc. It gets dissolved in Aqua regia. Aqua regia is a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid however it is insoluble in nitric acid only. It also forms alloys with Mercury to form amalgam which is used during electrolysis.

Note:
In ancient times gold was widely used as money around the world and in the kingdoms it was also used as barter. Talking about consumption of gold the fifty percent of gold produced is used in making jewelleries, about forty percent gold is used in investments and ten percent is used for industrial purpose.