Why is white gold white and not gold?

Question

Confusing question I know but it's puzzling me.

What is white gold anyway?

Answer 1

White gold is "white" because it is supposed to look like platinum. White Golds were originally developed to be substitute alloys (cheaper alternative) for platinum in jewelry.

At first, there were no standards of what could be alloyed with gold to make it look white. Some white gold’s were just rhodium plated gold. Now there are standards - but they are only based on color - not the alloyed metals. http://www.gold.org/discover/sci_indu/GTech/1999_25/White.pdf
"White Gold" has been defined as having a Yellowness Index value of 32.0 or less. There are three grade of white gold, based solely on color. Grade 1 is premium white grade with good white color, no need for rhodium plating.
Grade 2 is Standard grade with a reasonable white color; rhodium plating is optional. And, Grade 3 is on off-white color that needs to be rhodium plated.
http://www.gold.org/jewellery/technology/colours/white_guide.html

Answer 2

Mine is white gold. I favored white gold because of the fact platinum has a tendency to be much less vivid than white gold. whilst i grow to be observing rings the platinum appeared to be boring whilst in comparison with the others. Plus, white gold is far less high priced than platinum and no one will ever comprehend the style in case you do no longer tell them. One will final in simple terms as long because of the fact the different.

Answer 3

White gold is white because it is an Alloy. It comes in some different forms but commonly contains Copper, Zinc and Nickel as well as Gold.
It usually doesn't contain Silver as some people think, and is commonly used as a cheaper substitute for Platinum

Answer 4

White gold is an alloy (which is a mixture of a few different things in a metal to change it's properties) of gold and silver. It's not as "silver" colored as silver but compared to pure gold, it's pretty much the color silver. Some say the color is a little "warmer" than silver. Mainly the reason for it as far as I can tell is that it's a silver that won't tarnish.

Answer 5

White gold is an alloy of gold and another metal like nickel or palladium whick gives the gold a silver color. It's still called "gold" and is designated by it's gold purity in "karats" just like yellow gold.

Answer 6

Pure (24 carat) Gold is gold coloured. It's too soft to use in jewellery so other metals are added.
22 carat gold = 22/24 parts gold.
18 ct gold = 18/24 parts gold
9 ct gold = 9/24 parts gold.

Answer 7

White gold is an alloy of gold and at least one white metal, such as silver or palladium

Rose gold Rose gold is a gold and copper alloy widely used for specialized jewelry due to its reddish colour. It is also known as pink gold and red gold. Because it was popular in Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth century it is also known as Russian gold, although this term has become somewhat rare.

Oh.... and pure molten gold is green

Answer 8

A very interesting question - white gold is white because it is "white gold" - gold is gold coloured because it is gold

Answer 9

It is made with a higher zinc content, then finished with rhodium, which makes it shiney white.It is gold but the components are different, as they are for rose gold

Use to work as a jeweller

Answer 10

ahhh the joy of confusing quesions ... yep it is corect that gold is soooo soft when pure that alloys are used .. nickle makes white gold white
and copper yellow gold yellow ... seriosly try holding pure gold you would brake it in a second