| Símbolo | Au |
| Número atómico | 79 |
| Grupo | 11 (Metales de acuñación) |
| Período | 6 |
| Bloque | d |
| Clasificación | Metal de transición |
| Apariencia | Metallic yellow |
| Color | Dorado |
| Número de protones | 79 p+ |
| Número de neutrones | 118 n0 |
| Número de electrones | 79 e- |
| Fase en STP | Sólido |
| Densidad | 19.3 g/cm3 |
| Peso atómico | 196.967 u |
| Punto de fusión | 1337.33 K 1064.18 °C 1947.524 °F |
| Punto de ebullición | 3243 K 2969.85 °C 5377.73 °F |
| Entalpía de vaporización | 324.43 kJ/mol |
| Electronegatividad (Escala de Pauling) | 2.54 |
| Afinidad electrónica | 222.747 kJ/mol |
| Estado de oxidación | −3, −2, −1, 0, +1, +2, +3, +5 (an amphoteric oxide) |
| Energía de ionización |
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| Descubrimiento | Levant (6000 BC) |
Descubrimiento de oro The earliest recorded metal employed by humans appears to be gold, which can be found free or "native". Small amounts of natural gold have been found in Spanish caves used during the late Paleolithic period, c. 40,000 BC. Gold artifacts probably made their first appearance in Ancient Egypt at the very beginning of the pre-dynastic period, at the end of the fifth millennium BC and the start of the fourth, and smelting was developed during the course of the 4th millennium; gold artifacts appear in the archeology of Lower Mesopotamia during the early 4th millennium. The earliest gold artifacts were discovered at the site of Wadi Qana in the Levant. | |