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Have you ever wondered what the difference between 10, 14, 18, and 24 karat gold
is? Or maybe what makes white gold white? This page will attempt to answer these
questions for you.
As Simple As Karat Cake
The word karat actually comes from the word carat (used to measure the weight of
gemstones) which in turn is derived from the Greek word Karob. A Karob was a seed
used as a standard of measure during the time of the Grecian empire.
In gold, where it is spelled karat, it is used to describe how much gold is in an alloy.
Pure gold is understood as being 24-kt (24 karat). In this state it is very soft and
malleable, and, as such not very useful for jewelry. To overcome this problem, gold
is bonded with other metallic elements such as copper, nickel, manganese,
palladium, or silver. Pure gold is 24 out of 24 parts gold, as such it is 24-kt.
Likewise, 10-, 14-, and 18-kt gold is 10, 14, and 18 parts gold, respectively. The
other percentage are alloys or elements such as those listed above that strengthen
the gold and/or provide tints.
The Many Colors of Gold
We touched for a moment earlier on the different elements and alloys that are added
to gold to give tints and slight color changes. These tints are usually found in yellow
(most common), white, rose, and green.
White gold is usually produced by mixing gold with nickel and sometimes a silver
alloy. Someone who develops an allergic reaction to a white gold piece of jewelry are
usually reacting to the nickel in that particular alloy. Rose gold (also known as
pink) and yellow gold are created by varying the amount of copper in a
copper/silver mixture that is added to the gold. The more copper in this alloy, the
more rose the gold appears. Green gold is produced by basically reversing the
copper/silver ratio used to produce red gold.
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