Gold is a bright yellow, soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very low reactivity. Let us explore the industrial uses of gold in different fields.
The industrial uses of gold are listed below-
- Wealth production and financial exchange
- Decoration, jewelry and medals
- Electronics
- Space exploration
- Dentistry
- Glassmaking
- Gilding
- Manufacturing
- Food/ drink
- Cosmetics/ beauty
- Printing
Wealth production and financial exchange
- Gold is mostly used for making coins and other financial assets.
- Gold is considered a physical store of wealth.
- Due to its rarity, gold has been used as currency and people used it in ancient times. Around 10% of the world’s gold is used for coins and financial stores.
Decoration, jewelry, and medals
- The largest global use of gold is in making jewelry and other decorative gold products. It is malleable and can easily be used for making luxurious and elegant pieces.
- Gold is used to increase the value of a huge range of medals, badges, and so on.
- Gold leaf is traditionally used to glorify artworks. It is surveyed that around 52% of the world’s total gold is used for jewelry-making purposes.
Electronics:
- There is a widespread application of gold in the electronics industry due to its unique properties like a conductor of heat and electricity, softness and it can be easily stretched or plated into thin coatings.
- Gold is used in mobile phones (50 mg in each mobile phone).
- Gold is found in computer chips or laptops for passing and receiving information easily.
- All sophisticated electronic devices like smartphones, calculators, and GPS positioning devices use gold in small amounts.
- Gold is applied in switches, relay contacts, soldered joints, connecting wires, and connection chips.
Space exploration:
- Gold is used in space research. Thin coatings of gold are applied for shields and visors.
- Gold particles can reflect the infrared radiation that comes from the sun and helps to keep temperatures down on darker panels and visors.
- Gold is used on space vehicles to protect from the reflection of IR radiation and stabilize core temperatures.
- Gold is used as an element of lubricant between crucial moving parts of a spacecraft.
Dentistry:
- Gold has played a significant role in the dental industry since ancient times. It is mainly used in crowns, fillings, and bridgework.
- Gold is a durable metal and can be kept in contact with the mouth.
Glassmaking:
- Gold is used for different purposes in the glassmaking industry. A small amount of this metal is added to glass to develop a rich ruby color.
- Cranberry glasses and ‘Ruby gold’ glasses are used for making valuable decorative items.
- The most significant use of gold in this industry is to prepare special glasses for climate-controlled buildings. A gold-coated glass can reflect solar radiation and keep the temperature of the building low.
- This type of special glass reflects internal heat to maintain the room temperature in winter.
Gilding
- Gold can be beaten into extremely thin sheets, known as a ‘gold leaf’ due to its malleability. This gold leaf is used to paper over uneven surfaces of frames, furniture, and molds.
- Gold is applied to cover the external as well as internal parts of buildings.
Manufacturing
- Gold is frequently used in the manufacturing industry due to its conductivity and heat-reflection ability.
- Gold can be applied as a lubricant in engineering industries due to having the ability to the resistance of cold welding.
Food/Drink
- There are a few up-marketing restaurants that use gold leaf as an ingredient of decoration for their extravagant dishes.
- But it has no taste, therefore, the use of gold is limited only for decorating purposes.
Cosmetics/Beauty
- Gold is often used in the cosmetics industry as a revolutionary element in topical skincare creams moisturizers and lip balms.
- Gold nanoparticles are used in some beauty products.
Printing
- The popularity of gold ink is increasing in the printing industry because it can produce high-quality and long-lasting images.
- The gold coating can protect the CD and DVDs from scratches. Besides that, gold is also used in 3D printing.
Conclusion
Gold is a transition metal element with an atomic number of 79 and a molar mass of 196.97 g/mol. It is placed in group 11 and 6th period in the periodic table. It is a bright yellow, soft, malleable, and ductile metal.
Hello,
I am Aditi Ray, a chemistry SME on this platform. I have completed graduation in Chemistry from the University of Calcutta and post graduation from Techno India University with a specialization in Inorganic Chemistry. I am very happy to be a part of the Lambdageeks family and I would like to explain the subject in a simplistic way.
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