Going for Gold!

Gold is the most malleable and ductile of all metals. It can be hammered to a few hundred atoms thick and we don't have to panic too much about wasting small quantities when demonstrating some of its interesting properties.

Teaching goal 

This is a striking demonstration that is great for A-level students when discussing metallic bonding and/or intermolecular forces. On its simplest level, this demonstration lets us see another example of 'like dissolves like' - two chemicals that bond in similar ways are miscible with each other and as mercury is a liquid, it has the capacity to mix with gold. 

You can springboard from here into a very stimulating discussion for more able students who will undoubtedly want to know why it is that mercury is a liquid and why gold is the colour it is.