ElementsWhat is gold?
Gold is a soft, yellow metal that never tarnishes. It can be beaten into sheets so thin that light passes through. People have valued it for thousands of years.
What is gold used for?
Jewellery, coins and bars held as savings, reliable contacts in electronics, and dental work.
Where the name comes from
From an Old English word. The symbol Au comes from aurum, its Latin name.
Key facts
- Symbol
- Au
- Atomic number
- 79
- Atomic mass
- 196.96657 u
- Family
- Transition metal
- Period
- 6
- Group
- 11
- Block
- d
- State at room temperature
- Solid
- Melting point
- 1,064 °C (1,337 K, 1,948 °F)
- Boiling point
- 2,856 °C (3,129 K, 5,173 °F)
- Density
- 19.28 g/cm³
- Electrons per shell
- 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 1
- Electron configuration
- [Xe]6s1 4f14 5d10
- Common oxidation states
- +3, +1
- Electronegativity (Pauling)
- 2.54
- First ionisation energy
- 9.226 eV
- Electron affinity
- 2.309 eV
- Atomic radius (van der Waals)
- 166 pm
- Discovered
- Known since ancient times
Place in the periodic table
Gold is element number 79. It sits in period 6 (row 6) of the periodic table, in group 11 (column 11), and belongs to the d-block. Just before it comes platinum (78), and just after it comes mercury (80). In the same column, silver is above it and roentgenium is below it. Elements in one column tend to behave alike.
Family: Transition metals.
Physical properties
At room temperature gold is a solid. It melts at 1,064 °C and boils at 2,856 °C, so it stays liquid over a range of 1,792 degrees. Its density is 19.28 grams per cubic centimetre, so a one-litre block would weigh about 19.28 kilograms. By density it ranks 8th among the 96 elements with a measured value.
Inside the atom
An atom of gold has 79 protons in its nucleus and, when neutral, 79 electrons around it. The electrons are arranged in 6 shells: 2, 8, 18, 32, 18, 1. The outermost shell holds 1 electron. Written in full, the electron configuration is [Xe]6s1 4f14 5d10.
Its electronegativity on the Pauling scale is 2.54. This number shows how strongly an atom pulls shared electrons towards itself: fluorine, the strongest, is 3.98. Removing one electron from an atom takes 9.226 electronvolts (about 890 kilojoules per mole). One mole of gold weighs 196.96657 grams, so a single gram contains about 3.06 × 1021 atoms.
The ring picture is a simple model that only counts the electrons in each shell. Real atoms do not look like this.
Next steps
- Work out the weight of a compound that contains gold with the molar mass calculator.
- Compare it with every other element in the sortable list.
- Test yourself with the symbol quiz.
Figures on this page are from PubChem (U.S. National Library of Medicine), as downloaded on 11 November 2026. See About and data sources.