Gold is one of the first metals used by humans over 6,000 years ago.

The chemical symbol for gold, Au, comes from the Latin word aurum, which was the word for gold.

Gold is so soft that pure, 24-karat gold can be dented with a fingernail.

Ancient Egyptians referred to gold as the “flesh of the gods.”

The oldest known gold artifact is a 6,500-year-old bead discovered in Bulgaria.

Gold is one of the least reactive metals; it does not rust or tarnish.

King Tutankhamun’s coffin was constructed from over 240 pounds of solid gold.

During the California Gold Rush, some merchants earned more by selling laundry and supplies than by mining gold.

The Incas believed gold was the “sweat of the sun.”

Gold has served as a form of currency for more than 2,500 years.

Gold is extremely malleable; a single ounce can be hammered into a sheet covering 75 square feet. That same ounce can also be drawn into a wire over 50 miles long.

Gold is non-toxic, which makes edible gold leaf safe for consumption.

Volcanic activity can transport gold from deep within the Earth to the surface. Earthquakes can form gold deposits in milliseconds.

Gold is an excellent conductor of electricity, more stable than copper. It is widely used in electronics because it never oxidizes.

Gold is so dense that a bar the size of a smartphone weighs more than 2 pounds.

Scientists theorize that most of Earth’s gold originated from colliding neutron stars.

Astronaut helmet visors are coated with a thin layer of gold to protect their eyes from solar radiation.

Some asteroids contain more gold than all the gold mined in human history. Only about 205,000 tons of gold have ever been mined.

All the gold ever mined could fit into a cube measuring 25 meters on each side, roughly the size of a small building.

India is the world’s largest private holder of gold, primarily in the form of jewelry.

The United States Federal Reserve holds the largest government stockpile of gold.

24-karat gold is pure; 18-karat gold is 75% gold; and 14-karat gold is 58.3% gold.

White gold is created by alloying gold with palladium or nickel.

Rose gold gets its distinctive color from the addition of copper.

Pure gold is hypoallergenic, but alloys mixed with it can sometimes irritate the skin.

South Africa’s Witwatersrand Basin has yielded more than 40% of all gold ever mined.

The largest gold nugget ever discovered, the “Welcome Stranger” from Australia, weighed 2,316 troy ounces.

Gold has been used in dentistry for more than 3,000 years.

Olympic gold medals are made mostly of silver, with only a thin outer layer of gold.

The average human body contains about 0.2 milligrams of gold, mostly in the blood.

“Fool’s gold,” or pyrite, has deceived so many prospectors throughout history that it has become a common cliché.

Certain bacteria can biologically produce gold. The microbe Cupriavidus metallidurans can metabolize toxic metals and excrete tiny gold nuggets.

A typical smartphone contains approximately 30 to 40 milligrams of gold, worth a few dollars.