Gold

Gold has been valued in many cultures because it is rare, resists the corrosion that affects other metals and particularly because of its attractive brightness and colour. Gold is the most malleable of all metals, which means that it can be beaten to a leaf so thin it is translucent, and a single gram can be drawn into a fine wire 2.5 km long. It is used to reflect light and to shield spacecraft as well as to give value to coinage.

ISBN 9780714150765 | E | HB