Quiz on Gold

What is the chemical symbol for gold?

• Au ✓ (Correct answer)
• Ag
• Gd
• Go

Source: Au comes from the Latin 'aurum', meaning shining dawn.

In Greek myth, whose touch turned everything to gold?

• Croesus
• King Midas ✓ (Correct answer)
• Hercules
• Icarus

Source: Midas soon starved, since even his food turned to gold.

What does the term 'karat' measure in gold?

• Hardness
• Shine
• Weight
• Purity ✓ (Correct answer)

Source: 24-karat is pure gold; 18-karat is only 75% gold.

The 1849 Gold Rush drew prospectors to which US state?

• Texas
• Nevada
• California ✓ (Correct answer)
• Florida

Source: The 'forty-niners' turned San Francisco into a boomtown overnight.

A 'gold record' in music celebrates a high amount of what?

• Sales ✓ (Correct answer)
• Radio plays
• Awards won
• Chart weeks

Source: A US gold record means 500,000 units sold.

Which Olympic medal ranks just below gold?

• Bronze
• Silver ✓ (Correct answer)
• Copper
• Platinum

Source: The last solid-gold Olympic medals were handed out in 1912.

'All that glitters is not gold' warns things may not be as what?

• Old as they look
• Valuable as they seem ✓ (Correct answer)
• Heavy as expected
• Rare as believed

Source: Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice popularized the warning.

Most of the world's mined gold is used to make what?

• Electronics
• Coins
• Jewelry ✓ (Correct answer)
• Dental fillings

Source: About half of all gold ever mined sits on someone's finger or neck.

Which country is the world's largest gold producer today?

• China ✓ (Correct answer)
• South Africa
• United States
• Russia

Source: China overtook long-time leader South Africa back in 2007.

Roughly how heavy is a standard gold bar in bank vaults?

• About 12 kilograms ✓ (Correct answer)
• About 1 kilogram
• About 50 kilograms
• About 100 grams

Source: A 'good delivery' bar weighs about 12.4 kg, far too heavy to pocket.

The US largely abandoned the gold standard in which decade?

• 1930s
• 1970s ✓ (Correct answer)
• 1990s
• 1870s

Source: Nixon ended dollar-to-gold convertibility in 1971, the 'Nixon Shock'.

'Fool's gold' is the nickname for which shiny mineral?

• Pyrite ✓ (Correct answer)
• Quartz
• Mica
• Gypsum

Source: Iron pyrite's brassy glint tricked many hopeful prospectors.

Rose gold gets its pink hue from mixing gold with which metal?

• Copper ✓ (Correct answer)
• Bronze
• Platinum
• Iron

Source: More copper in the alloy means a deeper, redder rose tone.

The huge 'Welcome Stranger' gold nugget was found in which country?

• South Africa
• Australia ✓ (Correct answer)
• United States
• Canada

Source: Unearthed in Australia in 1869, it weighed over 70 kilograms.

Investors call gold a 'safe haven' because they buy it during what?

• Stock market booms
• Low inflation
• Times of crisis ✓ (Correct answer)
• Holiday seasons

Source: Gold tends to climb when fear spikes and currencies wobble.

Aqua regia, an acid mix that dissolves gold, means what in Latin?

• Strong water
• Royal water ✓ (Correct answer)
• Golden acid
• Noble fluid

Source: 'Royal water' could dissolve the 'noble' metals gold and platinum.

A single gram of gold can be hammered into a sheet covering about what area?

• About 1 square meter ✓ (Correct answer)
• About 1 square centimeter
• About 100 square meters
• About 1 hectare

Source: Gold leaf can be beaten just a few hundred atoms thick.

Roughly how much of all the gold ever mined still exists today?

• Almost all of it ✓ (Correct answer)
• About half
• About a quarter
• Very little

Source: Gold is rarely destroyed, so nearly all of it still circulates.

Scientists believe most of the universe's gold formed in which event?

• Supernova winds
• Neutron star collisions ✓ (Correct answer)
• The Big Bang
• Solar flares

Source: Colliding neutron stars forge gold, so your ring is literally stardust.

Mining commonly extracts gold from crushed ore using which toxic chemical?

• Chlorine
• Sulfuric acid
• Cyanide ✓ (Correct answer)
• Ammonia

Source: Cyanide leaching pulls gold from rock cheaply but hazardously.