1. What is gold?
Gold belongs to the so-called precious metals. Chemically speaking, precious metals are metals that are not subject to oxidation or acid. This also causes the durability of these metals. Within this category of precious metals, gold has exceptional durable properties.
In addition, there are other properties that typify gold:
- Conduction; Gold has a very good conductivity for heat and electricity.
- Color; The yellow color of gold is special compared to the mostly gray and white precious metals.
- Soft; Gold is the most malleable of all metals.
- Reflects light; Gold is a good reflector of light.
- Trust; Over the centuries, Goed has proven its trust.
- Scarce;
The boiling point of gold is 2855.88° C and the melting point is 1063.85° C. The density of gold is 19,320 kg/dm3. This means that 1 dm3 of gold has a mass of 19,320 kg. A milk carton filled with gold weighs more than 19 kg. Another striking feature is that 1 gram of gold can be rolled into a sheet of gold leaf of 1 square meter. Because of this, gold is also excellent to be used to make objects/jewelry gold-plated.
The purity of gold can be indicated in carats and in thousandths of a part. Fine (pure) gold is 24 carats or 999.9. Non-fine gold is indicated in parts of 24 or thousandths. For example, 18 carat is 18e part of 24, this is 75% fine gold. In thousandths this is .750.
The following calculation method can be used:
Percentage of Gold = (Carat Gold/24) * 100
Carat gold = 24 * (percentage gold / 100)
Many gold jewellery and gold coins consist partly of other (precious) metals. In many cases, this is silver or copper. This makes it less soft, but there are also possibilities to edit the color. White gold, for example, is a mixture of gold and nickel or palladium. Nowadays more use is made of (the more expensive variant) palladium.
Red gold is created by adding copper to the gold. A clear example of this is the South African Krugerrand. It consists of more than 91% gold and copper. This creates a distinct red hue.
