Why do we find gold as an element rather than as a compound?
Answer:
Gold is very unreactive - you can see in daily experience that unlike even silver it does not tarnish. There are not many chemicals that react with it. Hence where it exists, it tends to be in the pure state, or occasionally in a mixture (not a compound) with other elements like silver.
The reason for its low reactivity is the state of the outer shell of electrons. The fuller the shell, the less reactive the element.
Do your own homework.
because it is extremely unreactive
Gold is an element, have you never looked at a periodic table?
that is simply bcuz it has very low electronic affinity and hence it usually remains in the inactive state.. it doesnt have electrons in its outer most shell to donate or share , as a result not really able to make covalent or electronic bonds.. and hence it exists in elemental state.. but presently there are some compounds in which Au is able to share electrons, but majorly Au is elemental in nature.
Most elements occur naturally on Earth.
A compound is a substance of two or more different chemically bonded chemical elements.
it doesnt make very strong bonds because of its huge radius, so it tends to stick around with its own kind instead of bonding with other stuff.
because its not very reactive, so doesnt react with other elements to form compounds, therefore is found on its lonesome
Because pure Gold is the Element 'Au' in the Periodic Table of Elements. Its outer (6th) shell contains a single electron that makes it available for bonding with other elements.
However, just about all bought gold generally contains some copper and other elements which makes it a Mixture or Alloy..
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from the Latin aurum) and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal which, for many centuries, has been used as money, a store of value and in jewelery. The metal occurs as nuggets or grains in rocks, underground "veins" and in alluvial deposits. It is one of the coinage metals. Gold is dense, soft, shiny and the most malleable and ductile of the known metals. Pure gold has an attractive bright yellow colour and is one of only two coloured metal elements, the other being copper. All other metals are silver or grey.
Gold forms the basis for a monetary standard used by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The ISO currency code of gold bullion is XAU. Modern industrial uses include dentistry and electronics, where gold has traditionally found use because of its good resistance to oxidative corrosion.
Chemically, gold is a trivalent and univalent transition metal. Gold does not react with most chemicals, but is attacked by chlorine, fluorine, aqua regia and cyanide. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys, but does not react with it. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which will dissolve silver and base metals, and this is the basis of the gold refining technique known as "inquartation and parting". Nitric acid has long been used to confirm the presence of gold in items, and this is the origin of the colloquial term "acid test," referring to a gold standard test for genuine value.
As gold chemical compounds
Gold is attacked by and dissolves in alkaline solutions of potassium or sodium cyanide, and Gold cyanide is used commercially in electro-plating of gold onto base metals. Gold chloride (chloroauric acid) solutions are used to make colloidal gold by reduction with citrate or ascorbate ions. Gold chloride and gold oxide are used to make highly-valued cranberry or red-coloured glass, which, like colloidal gold sols, contains evenly-sized spherical gold nanoparticles.
that is simply bcuz it has very low electronic affinity and hence it usually remains in the inactive state.. it doesnt have electrons in its outer most shell to donate or share , as a result not really able to make covalent or electronic bonds.. and hence it exists in elemental state.. but presently there are some compounds in which Au is able to share electrons, but majorly Au is elemental in nature.
Because it only contains one element, gold! Compounds have at least two elements in. Its just the same as why other elements are called elements.
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