# Since gold and other metals are elements, can they be irretrievably destroyed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 14, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387 "2020-01-14T04:17:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387/41 "2020-01-15T19:53:06Z")
dtilque: > [@](#): > > Since your stomach doesn’t have any nitric acid, eating gold is safe. I thought that heavy metals were pretty dangerous as a class, e.g., mercury and lead. Is gold a genuine exception, or is it merely that even if ingested, there’s much less of it than the amount of lead that someone living in a lead-painted house would have entering their bloodstream? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387/42 "2020-01-15T21:12:45Z")
Even mercury and lead aren’t very dangerous in their elemental forms. The toxicity is mostly from compounds of them. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387/43 "2020-01-15T21:25:36Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > I thought that heavy metals were pretty dangerous as a class, e.g., mercury and lead. Is gold a genuine exception, or is it merely that even if ingested, there’s much less of it than the amount of lead that someone living in a lead-painted house would have entering their bloodstream? Gold is an exception. It’s the least reactive metal around. As I said, acids don’t dissolve it, except aqua regia. That’s a mixture of one part nitric to three parts hydrochloric acids, which does not occur naturally. So metalic gold passes through your system without causing any problems. It could cause problems if it’s been reacted with other elements, just like other heavy metals. But that’s not what we’re talking about here. ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387/44 "2020-01-15T23:20:51Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Gold is an exception. It’s the least reactive metal around. Googling suggests it’s actually second, just behind Platinum. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2020, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387/45 "2020-01-15T23:30:31Z")
If you have metal fillings in your teeth, what happens if you chew on something covered in gold leaf? ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387/46 "2020-01-16T01:31:02Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > It’s probably possible to fuse multiple atoms of gold into some denser element, like combining hydrogen in regular fusion reactions to create helium, but given that gold is created in supernovas, it’s probably beyond our reach. I don’t think supernovas are powerful enough to create atoms with as high an atomic number as gold. You need colliding neutron stars. ---
**Author:** ![Richox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Richox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richox)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387/47 "2020-01-16T03:39:33Z")
> [@lingyi](#): > > The thread about the gold leaf covered steak got me to thinking. I know you’ll just poop out edible gold and “mine” the poop And I know gold can be dissolved by certain acid(s), but is it really gone or can it be retrieved from the acid solution just a you’re able separate gold, silver and other metals with other acid solutions. As several others have pointed out, the only common acid that will readily dissolve gold is agua regia. You’ve also asked the question - is it really gone or can it be retrieved? The dissolution of gold into agua regia is actually one of the primary ways to refine or purify gold on both small and industrial scales. So the gold is very much retriveable and indeed can be of much higher purity than when you started. Some references: [https://www.gold.org/about-gold/gold-supply/gold-refining](https://www.gold.org/about-gold/gold-supply/gold-refining) > **[Chloroauric acid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloroauric_acid)** > > Chloroauric acid is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula H\[AuCl4\]. It forms hydrates H\[AuCl4\]·nH2O. Both the trihydrate and tetrahydrate are known. Both are orange-yellow solids consisting of the planar \[AuCl4\]− anion. Often chloroauric acid is handled as a solution, such as those obtained by dissolution of gold in aqua regia. These solutions can be converted to other gold complexes or reduced to metallic gold or gold nanoparticles. > The tetrahydrate crystallizes as \[H5O2\]+\[AuCl4\]− and... > **[Gold and silver refinery | The Perth Mint](https://www.perthmint.com/refinery-treasury/refinery/)** > > The Perth Mint processes gold and silver at it's Western Australian-based refinery for large and small mining companies. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387/48 "2020-01-16T04:39:14Z")
> [@Unpronounceable](#): > > Eating silver can potentially eventually turn your skin blue. I don’t know if there’s anything equivalent for gold. There is; [chrysiasis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysiasis). ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387/49 "2020-01-16T05:07:22Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I don’t think supernovas are powerful enough to create atoms with as high an atomic number as gold. You need colliding neutron stars. It’s not so much the power of the explosion, but rather the high density of free neutrons. Merging neutron stars (kilonovae) are dimmer than supernovae. In kilonovae, what produces the heavy elements like gold and platinum is a rapid succession of neutron captures by lighter nuclei like iron. The high density of neutrons means captures are so rapid that the nuclei don’t have time to decay before the next neutron arrives. So the atomic numbers of these nuclei quickly grow to being very heavy elements. ---
**Author:** ![Richox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Richox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richox)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387/50 "2020-01-16T05:18:48Z")
edit - double post. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387/51 "2020-01-16T05:30:08Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Stretching the notion of “destroyed” a bit but the “irretrievably” is pretty solid. > > Say you have an ounce of ordinary gold. Put it and a few kilos of gold together and melt them. > > Let me know if you have a plan how to retrieve your original gold and leave behind the extra gold. Makes Portia’s pound of flesh argument seem seem simple by comparison. “At last my plan to bring America to its knees is complete!” “You fiend! What have you done?” “I targeted the American economy! I broke into Fort Knox, melted down all of the gold, and then mixed it in with an amount of gold that was ten times larger!” “…and you left all the gold there?” "That’s right! Look upon all that gold and know that you will never be able to recover your original gold from the much larger pile of gold in its place! “You know what? I’m not even going to arrest you.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/since-gold-and-other-metals-are-elements-can-they-be-irretrievably-destroyed/846387.md?page=2)