Gold Trivia
Atomic Symbol: AU Atomic Number: 79
Atomic Weight: 96.967 Specific Gravity: 19.3
Melting Point: 1,945 Boiling Point: 5,371 F
- Gold is formed in the earth’s crust, generally in quartz veins.
- Gold is very dense. 1.5 times denser than lead, 19.3 times denser than water.
- An ounce of gold can be hammered to a thin sheet about 100 sq. feet, or stretched into a thin wire more than 5 miles long. A thread drawn from one ton of gold would stretch to the moon and back.
- 24 karat gold is pure and is attainable only through processing and refining.
- 10 karat gold is 41.67% pure.
- 14 karat gold is 58% pure.
- 18 karat gold is 75% pure.
- 21-23 karat gold is natural placer gold, 80-95% pure.
- 77% of all gold recovered is by lode mining, and is crushed, processed, and refined.
- 20% of all gold recovered is byproduct of other base metal mining and must also be refined.
- Only 3% of the gold recovered is from natural placer deposits.
- Less than 1/10 of 1% of gold is found in nugget form.
- An average of 80 cubic yards of gravel must be sluiced to find 1 ounce of placer gold.
- A one ounce nugget is as rare a find as a 5 carat diamond.
- Like snowflakes, no two nuggets are alike.
- The largest nugget ever found in Alaska was found near Nome. It weighed 155 ounces, was 7” long, 4” wide, and 2” thick.
- Gold was first discovered in Alaska on the Kenai Peninsula in 1848.
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