How Much Gold Is In My Ring?

Pure gold (fine gold) is softer than pure silver but harder than tin. Its beauty and luster are unmatched by any alloyed golds. The extreme malleability, ductility, and softness of pure gold make it practically useless for jewelry applications.

The addition of alloying elements (other metals) to gold are used to increase the toughness and hardness of the metal. While almost any metal can be alloyed (melted) with gold, only certain metals will not dramatically change the color or make the metal brittle. The addition of indium, for instance, turns gold purple and gives gold the workability of glass.

Over time, certain percentages of gold have become legally recognized "karats." The karat indicates the amount of gold as a percentage of the total, i.e. 24 karat is 100 percent gold. Thus 14 karat is 14/24 gold or 58 1/3% gold. Gold standards vary around the world. In the United States, 18, 14, and 10 karat gold are the only karats allowed to be sold as karated gold.

In karated gold, there is a balance of metals in the non-gold percentage. These metals provide the various colors and hardness of karated golds. Typical alloying elements and their color effect are:

Copper Reddening
Silver Greening
Zinc Bleaching
Nickel Whitening
Palladium Whitening

Examples of the compositions of different colors are:
Yellow Gold - copper, silver, zinc
White Gold - copper, nickel, zinc
Red Gold - copper
Green Gold - silver