While searching for uses on gold on Nov 22 I came across this article:

>SCIENCE WATCH; Gold as Radiation Shield

>GOLD, one of the heaviest chemical elements, is the basis of a new lightweight plastic foam under development as a radiation shield.

>Dr. John Fackler, director of the program, said the new polymer combines gold with triphenylphosphine, a compound of carbon, hydrogen and phosphorus, in a form that may be suitable for making anti-radiation garments.

>The polymer is 11 percent gold by weight, and the gold atoms in the substance efficiently scatter or absorb most forms of radiation, including X-rays. Chemically incorporated into a polymer, gold is less poisonous than other heavy metals that also block radiation. (Metallic gold is not poisonous, but when incorporated into compounds it may be.) Dr. Fackler said that because gold is chemically very stable, it tends to revert to its native state from some of the compounds it forms. We often have trouble with shiny, yellow metallic gold precipitating out of liquid compounds - just what refiners want, but the opposite of what we want, he said.

>http://www.nytimes.com /1988/09/06/science/science-watch-gold-as-radiation-shield.html

>http://archive.is /DY3Mk