Gold

Gold is formed as the result of molten rock, called magma, being interrupted into solid rock. Gold is soft, shiny, dense and the most pliable and malleable pure metal in existence. It is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, in veins and in alluvial deposits. Chemically, gold is a transition metal and can form trivalent and univalent cations in solutions. Compared to other metals, pure gold is chemically least reactive.