Humankind has been aware of gold for at least 5,500 years. Jval is the Sanskrit word that our word gold comes from. However, AU, gold's chemical symbol comes from the word aurum, which was the Latin word for gold.

Gold is an element with an atomic weight of 196.966569. On the periodic table of elements, gold is grouped with the transition metals and has an atomic number of 79. Gold is made up of 70 protons/electrons and 118 neutrons. While gold is a solid at room temperature, it will melt and boil. Gold's melting point is 1947.52° Fahrenheit (1064.18° Celsius) and its boiling point is 5173° F (2856° C).

Since gold was first found it has been fairly easily spotted in waterways. In fact, there is actually one milligram of dissolved gold in every ton of seawater. Unfortunately, it is too expensive to take the gold out of the water. Gold can also be found with other metals, such as copper and silver. While you might think that the world has already mined an enormous amount of gold, scientists calculate that a cube measuring 65 feet on one side could hold all of the world's refined gold.

South Africa is the largest known source of gold on the Earth with more than two thirds of all production. Other producers of gold include Canada, Russia, and the United States. Gold is mined in the United States mostly in South Dakota and Nevada. Each year about 1,400 tons of gold are mined globally.

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