FINDING GOLD - Where To Find Gold To Recycle and Use - Gold is the only element with the color that bears its name. It's a soft, ductile metal that is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity. It's also one of the noble metals, which means it resists corrosion, making it safe for jewelry and even to eat (in small amounts). While it's certainly possible to pan for gold, you may be surprised at all the everyday items you use that contain gold.

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Finding Gold

Where Do You Find Gold?

By Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D 

Where To Find Gold To Recycle and Use

Gold is the only element with the color that bears its name.

It's a soft, ductile metal that is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity.

It's also one of the noble metals, which means it resists corrosion, making it safe for jewelry and even to eat (in small amounts).

While it's certainly possible to pan for gold, you may be surprised at all the everyday items you use that contain gold.

Here's a list of places to look to find gold. You can use use it, recycle it, or sell it.

Get Gold from Computers and Smartphones

If you're reading this article online, your using an item that contains a significant amount of gold.

The processors and connectors in computers, tablets, and smartphones use gold. You can also find gold in televisions, gaming consoles, printers... anything electronic.

With a little know-how, you can recover this gold, although I'll let the details for you to find on YouTube, since the process typically involves burning the electronics to a crisp and using cyanide or acid to separate the gold.

It's not particularly environmentally friendly, but it's effective.

Now, you may be asking yourself why gold is used in electronics, rather than copper, which is more affordable, or silver, which is a superior electrical conductor.

The reason is that copper isn't really up to the task, while silver corrodes too quickly.

Since most electronics only last a few years, there is a trend toward using silver anyway, so if you're after gold, it's best to use older electronics rather than new ones.

Gold in Smoke Detectors

Before you throw out an old smoke detector, you might want to check it for gold!

Many smoke detectors contain another interesting element you can retrieve: radioactive americium.

The americium will bear a small radioactive symbol, so you'll know where it is.

The gold you can find by sight.

Find Gold in Used Cars

Before hauling off your old junker of a car, check it for gold. There are several locations in an automobile that may contain gold.

Newer cars carry electronics, which use gold, just like you'd find in a cell phone or computer. A good place to start is the airbag inflation chip and anti-lock brakes chip.

You may also find gold in the heat insulation.

Gold from Books

Have you ever noticed the gold edges on the pages of some books? That's real gold.

It's fairly easy to recover, too, because the metal is much heavier than the cellulose used to make paper.

Before turning your books into pulp, check to make sure they aren't first editions. In some cases, old books are worth more than the gold they bear.

Gold in Colored Glass

Ruby or cranberry glass gets its red color from gold oxide added to the glass.

Using a bit of chemistry, you can recover the gold from the glass.

This glass is also collectible in its own right, so as with books, it's better to check the value of the intact object before scrapping it to recover the gold.

Gold from a CD or DVD

Got a CD that sounds so bad it makes your ears bleed or a DVD that you either hate or else is so scratched up it skips all the best parts of the movie?

Rather than simply throwing it away, one fun option is to microwave it to see plasma.

Whether you nuke the disc or not, it may contain real gold that you can recover. The gold is in the reflective surface of the disc.

Only high-end discs use gold, which often gives them a distinctive color, so if you bought them on the cheap, chances are it contains a different metal. 

Gold in Jewelry

Your best bet for finding enough gold worth the time and effort of recovery is to examine gold jewelry.

Now, lots of jewelry that looks like gold really isn't, and some jewelry that appears silver could contain quite a lot of gold (i.e., white gold).

You can tell them apart by looking for a stamp or quality mark on the inside of rings and pendants and on the clasp of other jewelry.

Pure gold would be 24k, but that is too soft for use in jewelry.

You might find 18k gold, which will be very "gold" in color.

Other common markings are 14k and 10k. If you see 14k GF, it means the piece has a coating of 14k gold over a base metal.

While it's not worth much on its own, a whole lot of plated jewelry could add up to a significant amount of gold.

Gold in Embroidered Clothing

One characteristic of gold is that is extremely ductile.

This means it can be drawn into fine wires or threads. You can find clothing that has real gold (and silver) embroidery. Decorative cloth may also contain gold.

How do you know you're looking at gold and not gold-colored plastic? Plastic melts at a low temperature.

Another way to detect a real metal is that gold, like other metals, will fatigue and break. If you use a magnifying glass, you'll likely see a few broken threads on a piece of real gold embroidery.

Gold on Dishes and Flatware

Many fine china patterns and some flatware contains real gold.

The gold rims of cups and plates often are 24k or pure gold, so while there may not be a lot of gold on a single dish, the value can add up quickly.

The best part is the gold scrapes off, so complicated chemical methods aren't required.

Usually gold flatware is a lower purity of gold, since utensils take a lot of punishment, but there is more total mass of gold in them.

 

Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville - Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

Science educator with experience teaching chemistry, biology, astronomy, and physics at the high school, college, and graduate levels.

ThoughtCo and About Education chemistry expert since 2001.

Widely-published graphic artist, responsible for printable periodic tables and other illustrations used in science.

Experience

Anne Helmenstine, Ph.D. has covered chemistry for ThoughtCo and About Education since 2001, and other sciences since 2013. She taught chemistry, biology, astronomy, and physics at the high school, college, and graduate levels. She has worked as a research scientist and also abstracting and indexing diverse scientific literature for the Department of Energy.

In addition to her work as a science writer, Dr. Helmenstine currently serves as a scientific consultant, specializing in problems requiring an interdisciplinary approach. Previously, she worked as a research scientist and college professor. 

Education

Dr. Helmenstine holds a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and a B.A. in physics and mathematics with a minor in chemistry from Hastings College. In her doctoral work, Dr. Helmenstine developed ultra-sensitive chemical detection and medical diagnostic tests.

Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

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