The short answer to the question "What is the melting point of gold?" is 1,948 degrees Fahrenheit (1,064°C). The boiling point of gold occurs at 5,173 degrees Fahrenheit. The short answer assumes you are melting pure gold, but if other other alloy metals lare present (copper is the most commonly used base metal), then the temperature required to melt gold will vary. Because of the softness of pure (24 karat) gold, it is usually alloyed with base metals for use in jewelry, altering its hardness and ductility, melting point, color and other properties. Alloys with lower carat rating, typically 22k, 18k, 14k or 10k, contain higher percentages of copper or other base metals or silver or palladium in the alloy.
Gold is the most malleable of all metals. An ounce can be beaten out to 187 square feet. Gold leaf can be beaten thin enough to become transparent. If you've ever heard the term the "Gilded Age" that refers to the period in American history from about 1865 through 1900, you know that gold leaf was used to cover many surfaces and pieces of furniture in the homes of wealthy families. The Vanderbilts, like all the wealthy industrialists at the time did their best to out-build, out-dress, and out-party their peers, and they did much of their impressing with gold leaf.
Gold readily dissolves in mercury at room temperature to form an amalgam, and forms alloys with many other metals at higher temperatures. These alloys can be produced to modify the hardness and other metallurgical properties, to control melting point or to create exotic colors. Common colored gold alloys such as rose gold can be created by the addition of various amounts of copper and silver.
Gold is a good conductor of heat and electricity and reflects infrared radiation strongly. Chemically, it is unaffected by air, moisture and most corrosive reagents, and is therefore well suited for use in coins and jewelry and as a protective coating on other, more reactive metals. Gold is one of the heaviest of all metals and has been used by humans for thousands and thousands of years. Mining industry standards refer to troy ounces (1 troy ounce = 31.12035 grams). Gold's atomic number is 79.
The process of smelting gold requires a furnace, microwave kiln, or torch. Melting means to change something from a solid to a liquid by the application of heat. When the heat is removed, the melted material returns to its solid state. Its chemical content has not been changed. Smelting, however, is a metallurgical term. It refers to "burning off" the impurities that your gold might be mixed with, resulting in nearly pure gold.
Most people melt gold-bearing material in a crucible with a mixture of flux (such as silica and borax). Many natural forms of gold contain impurities, so a flux is required to collect them and remove them from the gold. Fluxes also help to hold together fine gold particles. The crucibles used for melting your gold must stand up to the fluxes being used, and crucibles made of graphite carbon are the most common type used. There are many options for shapes and molds to pour your molten gold into. Small kiln kits for melting gold found here.
If you have small sized gold and/or it's mixed with other materials, you'll find that it is much easier to handle, sell, or store once it is melted down into a single button or bar. Scrap jewelry gold can be handled the same way and melted down onto a single piece.
