Nearly all the gold on Earth came from meteorites that bombarded the planet over 200 million years after it formed.  Gold has many uses aside from its monetary and symbolic value. Among other applications, it is used in electronics, electrical wiring, dentistry, medicine, radiation shielding, and in coloring glass. Gold is the most malleable element. A single ounce of gold can be beaten into a 300-square-foot sheet. A sheet of gold can be made thin enough to be transparent.