Gold (Au) is a chemical element. The Latin word for the symbol is aurum. It is dense, soft, shiny and the most malleable and ductile pure metal known. Pure gold has a bright yellow color. It is one of the coinage metals and formed the basis for the GOLD STANDARD used before the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971.
Gold comes in a variety of colors, most common yellow and white. Natural gold is 24 karats, however because gold is relatively soft it is alloyed with other metals to increase its strength and make it suitable for jewelry. When other metals are blended with gold it will change to a variety of colors.
For example, adding copper and silver creates yellow gold. Depending on the percentage of yellow gold gold jewelry will be designated 18k, 14k or 10k.
White gold contains platinum or palladium, zinc and copper. Green gold contains silver, copper and zinc. Using copper only creates pink gold. 18K Gold: 18K Gold is 18/24ths, or three-quarters pure gold. Jewelry of this fineness is marked "18k" or "750," meaning 75 percent gold. 14K Gold: 14/24ths, or slightly more than one-half pure gold.
Jewelry of this fineness is marked "14k" or "585," the European designation meaning 58.5 percent gold. 10K Gold: 10/24ths, marked as "10k" or "417," the European designation meaning 41.7 percent gold. Less than 10-karat gold can not be legally marked or sold as gold jewelry in the United States.
No comments:
Post a Comment