I've been curious for some time about when gold might end up in our food and what effect it might have. Today, a Latin-learning daughter and I were talking about the myth of King Midas, who ate off golden dishes but didn't enjoy having golden food or seeing his daughter turn into a golden statue.
Then there is the story of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who sent a friend to visit Columbia University with some characters copied off ancient golden plates. The friend found a professor there who reportedly signed off the characters themselves being ancient but then changed his mind and ripped up the certification after hearing that they were copied from golden plates delivered by an angel. Why would talking about golden dishes help trigger a minor freakout by a Columbia professor?
Table manners are a funny thing. People of means--the kind of people likely to purchase and pass down to heirs fancy porcelain dishes with gold around the rims--are taught to never drink their soup right out of the bowl. Instead they are supposed to only use their spoons and carefully tip the bowls away from their faces in order to spoon up the last of their soup. But poor people happily finish off their soup in the obvious, convenient way: they tip the bowl towards themselves and drink the soup right out of the bowl, allowing the warm soup to flow over their inexpensive bowl rims.
Gold is generally non-reactive, but not always.
Au(s) + 3HNO3(aq) + 4HCl(aq) --> HAuCl4(aq) + 3H2O(l) + 3NO2(g)
This equation in my chemistry textbook indicates that a mixture of salt, acid, and nitrates (found in green leafy vegetables and some preserved meats) will react with the gold in dishes to form a hydrogen-gold-chloride compound. What effect, if any, does that compound have on human health? Is it a beneficial effect or a negative one? Is it one of the reasons for the high value humans put on gold?
