Believe it or not, one of the most valuable elements on the periodic table was also one of the first that was discovered by humans.

Since then, it's held a prominent spot in almost every culture on Earth.

We use it to signify first place. We use it as a metaphor for important rules and

for thousands of years it was the basis of money. It was even the obsession of James Bond's

greatest villain. Learn more about gold, its physical properties, and its role in human culture, on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. I've done a few episodes in the past on particular elements on the periodic table.

Aluminum was an extremely rare metal and unknown for much of history

until it became extremely abundant in the 20th century.

The story of Uranium was mostly about its uses as a radioactive element.

The story of gold is altogether different from anything else.

And let's start with the physical properties of gold. Gold as an element

is rather heavy with an atomic weight of 79. It's somewhat rare and brilliant colored.

Perhaps most importantly, gold doesn't usually bond with anything, and it's one of the least reactive chemical elements.

In the introduction, I mentioned that gold is probably the first element discovered by humans.

This is because almost every other element isn't found in its base

elemental form in nature. Common elements like iron or silicon are usually found

bound to oxygen or other elements in rock. Gold when found in nature is usually just pure elemental gold.

Along with silver and platinum, it's one of the only elements that's found this way.

In addition to being shiny and non-reactive, gold is also the most

malleable element and the most ductile element. Small bits of gold have been

found in Paleolithic caves dating back 40,000 years.

Honestly, it should come as no surprise that it was discovered that early.

It isn't hard to see why early humans would pick up a piece of gold as it's naturally shiny and

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