The world's consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments, and 10% in industry. This is equal to a cube with each side measuring roughly 21.7 meters (71 ft). A total of around 201,296 tonnes of gold exists above ground, as of 2020. In 2020, the world's largest gold producer was China, followed by Russia and Australia. Gold coins ceased to be minted as a circulating currency in the 1930s, and the world gold standard was abandoned for a fiat currency system after the Nixon shock measures of 1971. In the past, a gold standard was often implemented as a monetary policy. Gold also dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, and as the gold acts simply as a solute, this is not a chemical reaction.Ī relatively rare element, gold is a precious metal that has been used for coinage, jewelry, and other work of art throughout recorded history. Gold dissolves in alkaline solutions of cyanide, which are used in mining and electroplating. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid alone, which dissolves silver and base metals, a property long used to refine gold and confirm the presence of gold in metallic substances, giving rise to the term ' acid test'. Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia (a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid), forming a soluble tetrachloroaurate anion. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium ( gold tellurides). It occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver (as in electrum), naturally alloyed with other metals like copper and palladium, and mineral inclusions such as within pyrite. Gold often occurs in free elemental ( native state), as nuggets or grains, in rocks, veins, and alluvial deposits. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements being second lowest in the Reactivity series. Chemically, gold is a transition metal, a group 11 element, and one of the noble metals. In pure form, it is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Gold is a chemical element it has symbol Au (from Latin aurum 'gold') and atomic number 79.
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