Is it because ancient people "swallowed gold and committed suicide" because gold is poisonous? What is the principle?

Although humans can see the light emitted by stars many light-years ago, they cannot allow themselves to travel back to any time and space other than the present. Our understanding of the past mainly relies on relevant records handed down by our predecessors, as well as the excavation of objects carved with traces of the past. For example, "Dream of Red Mansions" records that the second sister You committed suicide by swallowing gold, and "Compendium of Materia Medica" records that "poisonous gold is the birth of gold, and red is very poisonous." So, the reason why ancient people chose to die by "swallowing gold" was because gold itself was poisonous? What is the principle behind this?

Gold has strong corrosion resistance

The chemical properties of gold are more stable than silver, and it is difficult to be corroded by other substances. Gold does not react with stomach acid and therefore cannot be digested by the human body. In ordinary environments, gold will not react chemically with oxygen and sulfur when exposed to high temperatures. Do you know why there is a long-standing saying that true gold is not afraid of fire? When we roast gold on a fire for observation, pure gold will become red and shiny after being roasted by high temperature.

However, if the gold is not pure enough, the impure gold in our hands will become discolored due to the oxidation reaction caused by the combination of other substances and oxygen. The melting temperature of gold is about 1000 degrees, and the maximum temperature of the flame is generally below 3500 degrees. In a simple high-temperature environment, even oxygen and sulfur cannot corrode gold.

For gold to react with oxygen, the temperature in the environment needs to be at least 4,000 degrees. Moreover, this process also requires the addition of pressure and other catalysts, and the reaction speed is also extremely slow. For substances such as nitrogen, iodine, sulfur, and bromine, if they are to react with gold, higher temperature conditions are required. Among all substances that can chemically react with gold, only aqua regia, fluorine, and chlorine have relatively low temperature requirements for their reaction.

What is the principle of committing suicide by swallowing gold

Many people believe that although gold itself is indeed non-toxic, there is a special substance that can cause the protein structure in the human body to change. Irreversible changes. This is the metal ion that gold may produce after it is dissolved in water. The function of the protein may be completely lost due to the changes in the protein structure. As we all know, the component of the enzyme active center is protein.

If human cells can no longer absorb nutrients and excrete useless waste. Then, a body that cannot produce energy will die due to loss of function and collapse of cell structure. However, the main function of the stomach is to grind and stir all food, and the body's absorption of nutrients mainly occurs throughout the small intestine. However, gold is a substance that cannot be dissolved in gastric acid, so this principle does not conform to the basic facts.

I think there are probably two possibilities for the real principle of suicide by swallowing gold in ancient times. Among them, the fastest way to cause death is death by suffocation. The esophagus of each of us is not straight to the bottom. There are three particularly narrow places at the junction of the esophagus and the throat, where the left bronchus crosses the esophagus, and where the esophagus leads to the diaphragm.

When a person swallows a larger piece of gold, he is likely to get stuck at the first narrow place. Then, the gold stuck in the esophagus also compressed the nearby trachea. If the gold cannot be removed from the esophagus in a short period of time, the esophagus and trachea will spasm due to too strong stimulation. Eventually, the aggravation of tracheal obstruction leads to death from suffocation.

Secondly, it is the second possible reason for committing suicide by swallowing gold. I believe that ancient smelting technology was very limited. The purity of gold at that time was far from what it is today, and it was likely that it contained other toxic substances. Moreover, in some existing documents, there are also recorded cases of death due to drinking a small amount of gold leaf wine.

Since gold is non-toxic, and the gold content in a glass of gold-platinum wine is very low, if the gold at that time was pure enough, the person who drank the wine would not have died. In short, if a person dies from poisoning, it will not be because he has swallowed a solid gold object. Therefore, the truth behind the ancient people committing suicide by swallowing gold was probably because the gold itself was impure and contained toxic substances.

Is gold a toxic substance?

Gold itself is not a toxic substance, and modern medicine has sufficient research to prove this. In addition, gold, whose protons carry a positive charge, also complies with the half-full rule, so gold itself has very stable chemical properties. 79 protons is the content of the gold nucleus, so the atomic number of gold in Mendeleev's periodic table is also 79.

In ancient times, gold was measured in units of "two". Because gold is a very rare substance, even in contemporary society, it is regarded as one of the most precious and rare heavy metals. Friends who have bought gold jewelry will have a particularly obvious perception, that is, the texture of gold is relatively soft and the color is gorgeous golden yellow. Moreover, wearing gold jewelry does not require repeated removal and wearing, nor does it require special preservation.

Au is the universal chemical symbol for gold, and its name means shining dawn, derived from a story about the goddess Aurora in Roman mythology. Gold, a transition metal, has a face-centered cubic crystal structure. Gold is incredibly malleable and has the strongest pull of all heavy metals. For example, only 0.5 grams of gold is needed to draw it into a 160-meter-long gold wire.

When gold is melted by high temperature, green steam will be emitted. Usually, gold powder in the smelting stage will appear brown. In nature, although the content of gold in the earth's crust is about 0.0011PPm and the content in seawater is about 0.00001PPm, there is rarely gold without any impurities. According to theory, only gold with a gold content of 100% can be called pure gold. However, since it is impossible to achieve this ratio in reality, my country calls gold with a gold content of more than 99.6% as 24K gold.