Gold's chemical symbol, Au, comes from the Latin word for gold, aurum.

Gold can conduct both heat and electricity and it never rusts.

Gold is so pliable that it can be made into sewing thread. An ounce of gold can be stretched over 50 miles.

In its annealed or softened state, gold can be hammered into a translucent wafer- 0.000013 cm thick

Gold is the only metal that occurs naturally in recognizable quantity and form.

Gold is virtually indestructible- the only substance that corrodes it is a mixture of nitric and hydrochloric acid.

Gold is so rare that the world pours more steel in an hour than it has poured gold since the beginning of recorded history.

The world’s largest gold bar weighs 200 kg (440 lb).