Gold with hydrofluoric, hydrochloric, hydrobromic, hydriodic, sulfuric, or nitric acid. It does react with selenic acid, and is dissolved by aqua regia, a 1:3 mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. Nitric acid oxidizes the metal to +3 ions, but only in minute amounts, typically undetectable in the pure acid because of the chemical equilibrium of the reaction. However, the ions are removed from the equilibrium by hydrochloric acid, forming AuCl ions, or chloroauric acid, thereby enabling further oxidation. Gold is similarly unaffected by most bases. It does not react with aqueous, solid, or molten sodium or potassium hydroxide. It does
Acid test (gold) or definitive tests to other materials, became popular during and after the California Gold Rush, but was current before then, as shown by this quote from the Wisconsin paper "The Columbia Reporter", November 1845: "Twenty-four years of service demonstrates his ability "to stand the acid test", as Gibson’s Soap Polish has done for over thirty years." Other examples of the figurative use of the phrase are the web sites Acid1, Acid2 and Acid3, which are designed to test web browsers for compliance with current web standards. Another example is the quick ratio method, nicknamed "acid test", used by financial analysts