Gold inertness.

can anyone clarify me why is Gold non-corrosive?
I'll be grateful.


Comment viewing options


From an Inorganic text I have:

Gold is a soft.......It is chemically unreactive and is not attacked by oxygen or sulfer, but reacts readily with halogens or with solutions containing or generating chlorine such as aqua regia; and it dissolves in cyanide solutions in the presence of air or hydrogen peroxide to form [Au(CN)2]-

So if by corrosion you mean attacked by oxygen like most metals, oxide compounds of gold are pretty unstable at atmospheric partial pressures of oxygen. "Au2O3 can be made as a brown powder by dehydration of Au(OH)3......It decomposes to gold and oxygen at 150 C." Its thermodynamically unfavorable.

WebElements: the periodic table on the WWW []
