The nature of gold is diverse. The chemical element gold is a heavy, soft metal. It weighs nearly twice as much as lead. Shiny and deep yellow in color, gold is one of two metals, which are not gray or white when pure. Gold is the most ductile of metals.

? Electron Configuration - -32-18-1

? Name of Origin - From the Old English word geolo (yellow)

? Symbol Origin - From the Latin word aurum (gold)

? Uses - electronics, jewelry, coins

Gold is the "noblest" of the noble metals (gold, platinum, palladium, and rhodium), so termed because of their inertness, or reluctance to enter into chemical reactions. Gold will not react with common acids but is attacked by a three-to-one mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids. This combination is called aqua regia because it reacts with the so-called royal metal. Gold will not combine directly with oxygen, but oxides may be formed indirectly. Gold will also combine with the halogens (fluorine, chlorine bromine, and iodine) and with the cyanides.

With the last devaluation of the dollar, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reset the exchange rate for gold at $ 42.22 per ounce. It was then selling for about $65 on the free market. The IMF abolished the "official" price of gold effective April 1978, and by year-end it's value rose to $226.37. The market price, more than doubled in one year. By mid- January 1980 gold was sold at a record high of $880.

Gold, eternally attractive to man has found it's principal use as a store of value and has become an increasing important industrial metal. Because of its rarity and durability, gold tended

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 777
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)