Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79, making it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal in a pure form. Chemically, gold is a transition metal and a group 11 element.
Gold is the only metal that is yellow or golden Other metals may develop a yellowish color, but only after they have oxidized or reacted with other chemicals. Nearly all the gold on Earth came from meteorites that bombarded the planet over 200 million years after it formed.
Gold has many uses aside from its monetary and symbolic value. Among other applications, it is used in electronics, electrical wiring, dentistry, medicine, radiation shielding, and in coloring glass.