What is Gold but a shiny rock.
A useful metal. From the Royal Society of Chemistry website (Some spellings corrected by me to American English)
The metal is used for coinage, and has been used as standard for monetary systems in some countries.
Gold can be beaten into very thin sheets (gold leaf) to be used in art, for decoration and as architectural ornament. Electroplating can be used to cover another metal with a very thin layer of gold. This is used in gears for watches, artificial limb joints, cheap jewelry and electrical connectors. It is ideal for protecting electrical copper components because it conducts electricity well and does not corrode (which would break the contact). Thin gold wires are used inside computer chips to produce circuits.
Dentists sometimes use gold alloys in fillings, and a gold compound is used to treat some cases of arthritis.
Gold nanoparticles are increasingly being used as industrial catalysts. Vinyl acetate, which is used to make PVA (for glue, paint and resin), is made using a gold catalyst.