The Remarkable History of the Precious Gold Element
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79; as a comparison, hydrogen, the lightest chemical element, has the symbol H and atomic number 1.
British spelling.
The atomic number of an atom is the number of protons in its nucleus, its centre; the more protons and neutrons an atom holds, the greater the mass; therefore, the heavier an atom becomes.
Most of us will have held a piece of lead and noticed how heavy it feels. Lead, with the symbol Pb, has the atomic number 82.
Most of us will have owned a gold coin or some gold jewellery at some point in our lives, but where was that gold created, and where did it come from?
Stars begin their main sequence lives when nuclear fusion converts hydrogen to helium, but the Sun is limited to how many elements it can produce. Stars that are more massive than the Sun can create heavier elements by the fusion process, which can go all the way up the Periodic Table to iron, but that is where the element-making process in stars comes to a halt.
Large stars end their lives in stellar explosions called supernovae; these extreme conditions are where most heavier elements…
