There remained, then, only two possible solutions of the question, which created two distinct parties: on one side, those who were for a monster of colossal strength; on the other, those who were for a submarine vessel of enormous motive power.
Gold is the most malleable of all metals; a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of 1 square meter, and an avoirdupois ounce into 300 square feet. Gold leaf can be beaten thin enough to become semi-transparent.
Gold is both malleable and ductile. Gold is a heavy metal (density 19.3 g cm -3) and one gram of gold can be hammered out into a thin sheet of gold a metre in area, and just 230 atoms or so thick.