Chapter 3 Some Basic Gold Facts
One cubic foot of gold weighs about 1,206 lbs.
There are an estimated 9 billion metric tons of gold in the oceans of the world.
Figure 11 Crucible with Gold in Furnace{15}
Gold melts at 1,945.4 degrees Fahrenheit and boils at 2,966.0 degrees Fahrenheit (Figure 11).
The Periodic Table of Elements symbol for Gold is “Au” (Silver is “Ag”, Platinum is “Pt”).
Gold ore with as little as 1 part gold to 300,000 parts of worthless material can be mined at a profit.
One of the largest gold nuggets ever found was turned up by a wagon wheel in Australia (1869) and weighed 159 lbs (about 2319 troy ounces, $2,782,800.00 at the December 3, 2014 gold price!).
About 1 oz of gold can be drawn into a wire 0.000005 inch thick and 62 miles long.
Gold in the U.S. Fort Knox Bullion Depository consists of bars about the size of ordinary building bricks (7 x 3 5/8 x 1 3/4 inches) that weigh about 27.5 pounds each (about 400 troy ounces; 1 troy ounce equals about 1.1 avoirdupois ounces.) They are stored without wrappings in the vault compartments.
Aside from monetary uses, gold is used in jewelry and allied wares, electrical-electronic applications, dentistry, the aircraft-aerospace industry, the arts, and medical and chemical fields.
Gold is called a "noble" metal (an alchemistic term) because it does not oxidize under ordinary conditions. Its chemical symbol Au is derived from the Latin word "aurum." In pure form gold has a metallic luster and is sun yellow, but mixtures of other metals, such as silver, copper, nickel, platinum, palladium, tellurium, and iron, with gold create various color hues ranging from silver-white to green and orange-red.
Pure gold is relatively soft--it has about the hardness of a penny. It is the most malleable and ductile of metals. The specific gravity or density of pure gold is 19.3 compared to 14.0 for mercury and 11.4 for lead.
Figure 12 Using the density differences of Gold and Pyrite to differentiate between them{16}
Impure gold, as it commonly occurs in deposits, has a density of 16 to 18, whereas the associated waste rock (gangue) has a density of about 2.5. The difference in density enables gold to be concentrated by gravity and permits the separation of gold from clay, silt, sand, and gravel by various agitating and collecting devices such as the gold pan, rocker, and sluice box (Figure 12).
Mercury (quicksilver) has a chemical affinity for gold. When mercury is added to gold-bearing material, the two metals form an “amalgam”. Mercury is later separated from amalgam by retorting. Extraction of gold and other precious metals from their ores by treatment with mercury is called amalgamation. Gold dissolves in aqua-regia, a mixture of hydrochloric and nitric acids, and in sodium or potassium cyanide. This solution is the basis for the cyanide process that is used to recover gold from low-grade ore.{17}
A common unit of weight measure in the United States is the “ounce”. And most people know that there are 16 ounces in a pound. What many do not realize is that this “pound” is actually properly called an “Avoirdupois pound” and is composed of 16 Avoirdupois ounces. But gold is measured by the “Troy ounce”. And there are 12 Troy ounces in a “Troy pound”. A troy ounce and an avoirdupois ounce can be compared by their weight in grams. One troy ounce is defined as exactly 31.1034768 grams. An avoirdupois ounce is equal to approximately 28.3 grams. So a troy ounce actually weighs more than an avoirdupois ounce. But because there are only 12 troy ounces in a troy pound, and 16 ounces in an avoirdupois pound, the avoirdupois pound is actually heavier than the troy pound. For comparison, the troy pound is equal to 373.24 grams and the avoirdupois pound is equal to 453.59 grams.{18} The avoirdupois pound is approximately 1.215 times heavier than the troy pound. An explanation of these weights and measures is supplied by the CoinNews.net website.
So to sum up that confusing situation:
If you don't want to invest in a scale to measure your gold, you can get standard bottles in 2 dwt, 1/2 ounce, one ounce etc. at prospecting shops. You can use these bottles to fairly accurately estimate how much gold you have.{19}
An additional website with conversion factors for the gold prospector: Gold Weight Conversions