ויקח את העגל אשר עשו וישרוף באש ויטחן עד אשר דק (כי תשא לב:כ)

The nature of fire is that it cannot burn gold; it can only melt gold. The egel was made of gold, so why does the passuk say וישרוף באש – that it got burned? As soon as Moshe saw the calf, he told the gold: “Is this why Hashem created you and made your value greater than all metal, and you allowed to be made into an egel?” Soon after, the piece of gold became a piece of wood from the “קרון עור פניו” – Moshe’s holy appearance, and it got burned. As the passuk says “וישרוף” – it got burned, and not “וישרוף אותו באש” – that it burned itself and it got grounded by itself.