GOLD IS PERISHABLE

New American Standard (©1995)

knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold..."(1 Pet.1:18)

The Bible prove that even Gold is destroy or perishable by using "Agua regia" 2 thousand years before the discovery is already revealed in the Word of God that Silver or Gold is perishable 



As with most metals, gold is both ductile and malleable. Being ductile means that it can be dawn in to thin wires. Malleability means that it can be pounded in to thin sheets and still maintain its strength. Gold is so malleable that it can be beaten in to sheets so thin they are see-through.

Gold has an amazing ability to transfer both heat and electricity. Only silver and copper are better at doing this. Because of these features, gold is often used in electronics. Thin wires of gold can conduct both heat and electricity in a wide variety of circuits.

The melting point of gold is very high - 1064 Celsius. Its boiling point is 2860 degrees Celsius.

Gold is one of the most dense metals in existence. Each cubic centimeter of pure gold weighs about 19.3 grams. Gold is more dense than lead, copper or silver.

Gold is relatively soft compared to other metals. In theory you can scratch pure gold by biting it. To make gold harder to scratch, you can make alloys with other metals. An alloy is a metal that has intentionally had impurities added to it. Color of gold can be altered as well as hardness by alloying.

If swallowed, gold is non-toxic. It can be ingested and will just pass right though your gut.

Gold is very resistant to corrosion and reacting with other elements. It does not tarnish or rust in the presence of air.

If you do want to destroy a sample of gold in a chemical reaction, you are going to need some pretty toxic chemicals. Both gaseous chlorine and flourine will react with gold. It should be pointed out that both of these elements in their gaseous form will not only destroy gold, but also your lungs. As they say on television, "Do not try this at home."

If you are looking for a liquid that will destroy gold, you aren't going to have many more options. Gold can sit quite comfortably in water forever without rusting. Alkaline solutions are harmless to gold. Most acids won't damage gold, not matter how concentrated. There is one key exception however, an acid called by its latin name - aqua regia.

Aqua regia means "Kingly Water", and it named thus for its ability to dissolve gold. It is a mixture of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid. It's nasty stuff and certainly not something you want to play with causally.

If you don't happen to have a bottle of aqua regia laying around the house, you can also use sodium or potassium cyanide to dissolve gold. OK, those chemicals aren't very common either, but that's not the point.

Discovered around 800 A.D. by Iranian alchemist Abu Musa Jabir ebn Hayyan, aqua regia is a corrosive mixture of acids used to refine precious metals. "Royal water" in Latin, aqua regia is also used in etching and in cleaning glassware in certain applications. A foaming yellow or red combination of nitric and hydrochloric acids, aqua regia dissolves gold and platinum through oxidization. Certain other "noble" metals --- tantalum and iridium, for instance --- are impervious to aqua regia.

Pure nitric acid will not dissolve gold, but will attack other metals. This provides a way of determining if a metal is pure gold or not. If you put your sample of unknown metal in a bit of nitric acid and the sample metal dissolves, it wasn't gold.