This paper deals with gold, which is described as a chemical element. Special attention is paid to its physical-chemical properties and, furthermore, where or in what form it can be found in nature. We discuss the role it has played through history and we inform how gold has been developed to the level it has reached today’s value. Still more, when gold is broken into nanoparticles, this form could be highly useful for a wide range of processes, including general nanotechnology, electronics manufacturing and the synthesizing of different functional materials. It is important that we know that gold is also used in industry in many engineering applications (contacts in micro-electronics) and medicine (dental alloys, implants).Ovaj članak govori o zlatu kao kemijskom elementu. Posebna pažnja posvećena je njegovim fizikalno-kemijskim svojstvima i gdje i u kojem obliku se može pronaći u prirodi. Razmatra se uloga koju je zlato odigralo u povijesti i donosi se informacije o tome kako je doseglo razinu vrijednosti koju ima danas. Zlato razlomljeno na nanočestice upotrebljivo je u širem spektru procesuiranja, uključujući opću nanotehnologiju, elektroničku prizvodnju i spajanju materijala raznih funkcionalnosti. Važno je znati da se zlato koristi i u industriji, mnogim inženjerskim procesima (kontakti u mikro-elektronici) i medicini (dentalne slitine, implatanti)