How Do You Know If You Have Found Gold In The Ground?

As the flowing heated water reaches cooler rocks, the metallic minerals precipitate and get deposited in veins or blanket like ore bodies. It is important to know how gold deposits to be able to locate them. Due to geothermal systems, the water in earth is heated which in turn dissolves metals from surrounding volcanic or sedimentary rocks.

Gold is extremely resistant to any change in the weather, and once freed from enclosing rocks it is carried down by flowing water in the form of dust, flakes, nuggets or tiny particles. They collect in pockets or depressions of streams or river beds as the water flow slows down.

In areas where there is coarse sand or gravel, if we come across tiny particles or nuggets which are yellowish in color and have a golden luster we can say we have found gold. It may be found mixed with other metals like copper, silver, nickel or platinum in which case the color and form in which it is found changes. The difference in density allows the separation of gold from silt, clay and gravel by different method of churning and later collecting like gold pan, rocker and sluice box.

A test can be conducted with the help of nitric acid to prove whether it is indeed gold.

I found a rock in the mountians and it looks like it may have some gold in it, and I want to see if it is real. What are some test besides nitric acid that I can use, or were can I buy some nitric acid, and what does the acid do to the rock that will prove it is actual gold.

I found a rock, and I think that it may have some gold in it, were can I buy some nitric acid, what will the acid do to the rock that proves it is actually gold, and is there any easier ways to test if it is gold.

Well, you could take it to some people at a mine and check with them.

To find out if it's real or not measure its density. The density of gold, 19.3 grams / cm³, which is much higher than most other metals. Even lead has a density of only 11.4 g/cm³ -- platinum, iridium, osmium, and neptunium are the only metals that have a density over 20 g/cm^3. (For comparison the density of water is only 1 g/cm³). To measure the density of a metal, you need a scale or balance (to measure the mass) and a graduated cylinder (to measure the volume). First weigh the piece of gold on the scale. Then, to determine the volume, add some water to the graduated cylinder. Write down exactly how much there is. Then add the gold to the graduated cylinder. Again, write down the exact water level. Take the difference of the two numbers to get the volume of the gold alone. Remember 1 milliliter = 1 cm³. Finally, find the density by dividing the mass by the volume (density = mass ÷ volume). If what you get is approximately 19 g/cm³, then it is real gold. It might be slightly less because almost all gold isn't actually 100% gold (pure gold is almost impossible to find in nature).