Gold, like all other elements in the universe heavier than lithium, is created in stars, by the process of nuclear fusion. However, the formation of different elements varies according to their atomic number. Elements lighter than iron are formed by "helium capture" fusion, where nuclei capture a helium-4 nucleus and fuse with it into a heavier elment. For example, a carbon-12 nucleus could collide with helium-4 and produce oxygen-16 and energy. The iron nucleus is more strongly bound than any other nucleus, and so there is basically "no room" for the helium-4 to fuse with it. Elements heavier than iron are formed by neutron capture, or s-process, fusion. In this type of fusion, nuclei capture stray neutrons -- it is called s-process as it happens much slower than helium capture. This process is responsible for all elements from iron to bismuth, like gold. Elements heavier than bismuth are thought to be formed in supernovae, when pressures and temperatures are much higher than possible in a stable star.

i have no idea

could some1 tell me i need to know for a school project

it isnt you can only find it in pots at end of rainbows

It is generated in Stars. All the elements up to Iron can be made by normal Fusion processes (beyond this there is no net energy out for fusing them, you actually lose energy) in the Star during it's normal life. However the rest are made by neutron capture in the Star by the s-process. This is called this because it happens very slowly and really generates only tiny amounts of heavier elements in a stars lifetime. The bulk majority of these heavier elements are generated in Supernovae explosions where the r-process takes place. This is called the "rapid-neutron process" as alot of neutrons are released and captured by atoms. The heavier element generation works is by a neutron being absorbed by the atom. The atom is still the same element just a different isotope. It stays the same element till it become unstable to the point where it decays (via beta or alpha decay to another element) in the time it takes for another neutron to be captured (in the r-process the element rapidly captures many neutrons and keeps doing so till it becomes very unstable and decays rapidly to another element) These two element don't explain all the heavier elements as some are protected by this process where if you add all the neutrons you like you can't get there (not even by decay you reach another stable element before you get there). These heavier elements do exist in nature so are believed to be generated by High Energy Cosmic Rays that "chip" enough of these atoms to enable the r/s-processes to continue behind these "protected" areas.

gold is formed in the middle east,bin laden is hiding in an under ground gold mine, irelevant but true. gold is also found in rory bird's arse.

Gold is formed by a mixing of quartz, hiddenite, beryl, lithium and peanut butter - (for color). No...really! And you can find gold almost anywhere...North America, Asia, Austrailia, Graceland and in dead peoples teeth. Gold has many uses...like jewelery, coins, electrical cunductors, that Goldschlager booze drink, and war. Gold is one of natures rarest and most beautiful elements...and can be found in its naturally occuring rectangular shape in Fort Knox, Kentucky. Honest. Anybody wanna know about diamonds?

Wow Jimbo, I have tested your theory and it works. I have cleared the UK out of peanut butter and I have gold stacked everywhere now I am even using bricks of to edge the garden with. You only had to look back at the other explanations to see that the logic was all wrong. If it were made in the stars there would be nasty big ingots of the stuff raining down on us, it would be lethal. I have run out of room to stack anymore gold.......Now about those diamonds ? Please hurry up though, I've got 14,000 tons of sand coming and the only place to put it is in the neighbours garden and he comes back from holiday in two weeks time

Our learned friends are right about the heavy elements including gold being formed in stars, and there is a great deal of astronomical and laboratory evidence to support this. I think a large part of the question though, has to do with how gold is concentrated in the Earth, rather than about its stellar origin. Our entire planet is composed of materials that originated from stardust... however fascinating this fact may be, this does not help us much in understanding how gold occurs on Earth. Here are a few useful pointers for you. 1) Gold is widely distributed in the Earth's crust with an average concentration of 0.005 parts per million. 2) Various geological processes serve to concentrate gold and other metals in certain places to produce matalliferous ore bodies that are economically viable to mine. 3) Gold must be concentrated to about 5ppm, or 1000 times the crustal average concentration, and in sufficient volume to be able to recover at least 200,000 ounces (6 metric tons) to make an ore body economically viable. 4) Gold is concentrated in the bedrock mainly by volcanic activity and hydrothermal activity associated with it. It occurs most typically in mineralised quartz veins around and above granite plutons, but some of the richest deposits are found associated with massive sulphide ore bodies in Precambrian (usually Archaean) mobile belts. 5) Gold usually occurs as a native metal, often alloyed with small amounts of Silver, Lead, Copper, iron, and tiny amounts of rare Platinum Group Minerals. 6) Gold is a relatively inert substance, and survives weathering and erosion very well. Many of the richest accumulations of gold are concentrated by alluvial action depositing gold from large catchment areas into river and stream channels. 7) Two of the largest and most famous gold ores found in Africa, the Witwatersrand formation (South Africa) and the Tarkwa formation (Ghana) are quartz pebble conglomerates that were formed by both processes of concentration (4 and 6). First it formed in quartz reefs through an externsive region, then it was eroded and concentrated more by alluvial action. The gold is found in veins within the quartz pebbles and as individual grains in the finer sedimentary matrix between them. 8) Gold is often found on or near the surface in alluvial deposits, where panning and dredging may be economically viable at concentrations as low as 1ppm. In some of these areas where alluvial gold is found, there is no sign of the original ore bodies, because they have long since been eroded away, leaving only the concentration of gold surviving in stream sediments.

Gold is part of the earth. It was formed when the earth was formed. Every some odd years according to the Myan calander earth will be renewed will all the rescources we have used up. It's somtime soon like in a few years.