![]() Gold has a Young's modulus of 79 GPa which is very similar to silver, but significantly lower than iron or steel. The Young's modulus of elasticity of a material is related to rigidity or stiffness and is defined as the ratio between the stress applied and the elastic strain it produces. ![]() Gold is also ductile and one ounce can be drawn into 80 km (50 miles) of thin gold wire (5 microns diameter) to make electrical contacts and bonding wire. However, there is only one stable non-radioactive isotope accounting for all naturally found gold. Whilst the number of protons in a gold nucleus is fixed at 79, the number of neutrons can vary from one atom to another giving a number of isotopes of gold. Gold’s attractive warm color has led to its widespread use in decoration. The conditions for the intense absorption of light at the wavelengths necessary to produce the typical gold color are fulfilled by a transition from the d band to unoccupied positions in the conduction band. ![]() The color of a metal is based on transitions of electrons between energy bands. The arrangement of outer electrons around the gold nucleus is related to gold's characteristic yellow color. Interestingly this is smaller than would be predicted by theory. The atomic mass of the gold atom is 196.967 and the atomic radius is 0.1442nm. ![]() each gold atom has 79 protons in its nucleus. Gold, (symbol Au) has an atomic number of 79 i.e.
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