Final answer:
The structure of gold at the atomic level consists of atoms arranged in a face-centered cubic lattice. Gold's atomic structure includes a dense nucleus surrounded by electrons, and can be visualized on the surface as a crystalline arrangement with a STM.
Step-by-step explanation:
The structure of gold involves understanding its atomic configuration. Gold is an element consisting of atoms, which are the smallest units of matter that retain all chemical properties of an element. A single gold atom embodies all the properties of gold, such as being a solid metal at room temperature. If you magnify a section of the gold surface, you will observe a packing of atoms, showing that gold crystallizes in a face-centered cubic unit cell.
Delving into the structure of the atom, Ernest Rutherford's gold-foil experiment discovered that atoms consist of a small, dense nucleus surrounded by electrons. When visualized using powerful techniques like a scanning-tunneling microscope (STM), a gold crystal can be seen as a compact arrangement of spherical gold atoms.