Gold element silver (as electrum) and also naturally alloyed with copper and palladium. Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium (gold tellurides). Gold is resistant to most acids, though it does dissolve in aqua regia, a mixture of nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, which forms a soluble tetrachloroaurate anion. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which dissolves silver and base metals, a property that has long been used to refine gold and to confirm the presence of gold in metallic objects, giving rise to the term "acid test". Gold also dissolves in alkaline solutions of cyanide,
Acid–base reaction chemistry. The ECW model is quantitative model that describes and predicts the strength of Lewis acid base interactions, −Δ"H". The model assigned "E" and "C" parameters to many Lewis acids and bases. Each acid is characterized by an "E" and a "C". Each base is likewise characterized by its own "E" and "C". The "E" and "C" parameters refer, respectively, to the electrostatic and covalent contributions to the strength of the bonds that the acid and base will form. The equation is The "W" term represents a constant energy contribution for acid–base reaction such as the cleavage of a dimeric