Humans have always placed value on things that are shiny, beautiful, and rare, and there is no better example of this than the role gold plays in our society. Everyone knows what gold is. They know that is has value and they want to get their hands on some. But few people know anything about gold apart from the fact that it is valuable. Where does gold come from? What are its scientific properties? How can you tell if gold is real or fake? What is the history of gold? Where would our society be without it? What do people do with gold other than spend it? These are the types of we consider here at JX Gold. If you have any questions about gold, you've come to the right place.

Scientifically speaking, gold is an elemental metal, which means that gold is not made from other substances, only found in its natural form. It is usually mined from underground. It appears on the periodic table under the symbol Au, which comes from the Latin word for gold: aurum. Gold is a shiny yellow color which does not rust, and doesn't react with other substances except for a few very strong acids, which is one of the reasons why people value it so highly. It is also very malleable and ductile, which makes it easy to reshape, and like most other metals, it conducts electricity very well.


Gold has held value for human beings ever since the Bronze Age - as much as 7,000 years ago. Because it is so easy to melt and shape and it does not decay under the elements, gold has been used to adorn carvings, books, statues, and to create currency in almost every culture from the Aztecs to the Ancient Egyptians. Some scientists in various European cultures even spent years on the study of alchemy, whereby they attempted to alter the structure of substances with the eventual goal of being able to turn other substances into gold. In the 19th century, discoveries of gold in North America spawned several gold rushes.

Though there are gold accents in the art of many cultures, gold's primary function has always been as a currency. Gold was melted down and molded into coins, which were exchanged for goods and services. In order to tell a real gold coin from a fake one made from pyrite (otherwise known as fool's gold), vendors would bite the coin (real gold is very soft) or subject a small piece to an acid test. Even today most national currencies are on the gold standard, which means that a reserve of gold determines the value of the more common paper currency.

Today gold has many roles. It is still used in jewelry and to accent artistic objects such as sculptures and reliefs. It is used in dentistry to fill holes and is even found in some foods and medicines as an indication of wealth. In industry, gold is used in soldering, embroidery, stained glass, photography, optics, thermal protection, CDs, high end engines, and electrical wiring.

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