Earth > What's This? Gold

Shiny. Dazzling. Beautiful. Gold has captured our hearts for thousands of years.

In our culture today, gold is a symbol of great success. We recognize outstanding actors and television shows with golden Emmy awards like this one. In the Olympics, the gold medal is the ultimate prize.

Can you find the eyes, ears, and horns on this gold sheet mouflon? This adornment is over 4,000 years old and is from the Hissar III culture (present-day Iran). Gold is a symbol of wealth and power. Gold objects were often buried with people of nobility.

Artisans made adornments like this with gold nuggets found at the bottom of rivers and streams. Since gold is very soft, it won't break when hammered. The artisans beat the gold nuggets into thin sheets. They then shaped the sheets into interesting ornaments.

The Inca empire accumulated one of the greatest amounts of gold in history. Gold was "the sweat of the sun," symbolizing their most sacred sun god. A temple garden was filled with life-size plants, animals, and people made of gold. Tiny golden figurines were offered to mountain spirits. Gold also symbolized high status in society. The royal and elite wore enormous gold adornments such as necklaces, earplugs, and pins. Sadly, very few Inca gold objects remain today. Early European explorers plundered the gold and melted it into gold coins and bars.

Imagine finding over three tons of gold at the bottom of the ocean! In 1857, the S.S. Central America left Panama for New York. It carried the largest collection of early California gold. The ship was hit by a hurricane and sank to the bottom of the ocean. It was lost and gone — until 130 years later. When the ship was found, its wood had slowly rotted away and the steel had turned red with rust. But the gold coins and bars still gleamed a beautiful yellow. Since gold doesn't corrode or tarnish, the golden treasures are in nearly mint condition.

See the stripe of gold in this rock? It is called a gold vein. Miles below the Earth's surface, water is heated by magma. As this super-hot hydrothermal fluid rises, gold from nearby rocks dissolves into it. When the fluid flows through cooler rocks near the surface, the dissolved gold settles into cracks to form veins like this one. Over millions of years, wind and water erode gold flakes and grains away from veins. The heavy gold settles on the bottom of rivers, lakes, and oceans, forming placer deposits. That's where gold nuggets are found.

Did you know that space helmets have a very thin coating of gold on their visors? Not to worry, astronauts can still see right through it — the gold is only 0.000002 inches thick! Even at that thinness, gold protects astronauts by reflecting light and heat from the Sun . Gold is also an excellent conductor of electricity, doesn't corrode or tarnish, and can be easily stretched or molded. This unique combination of properties makes gold a special and useful metal. We can find gold all around us today — in computer chips, phones, and even dental tools!