does the colour of gold affect its purity?

Question

Gold is decribed as Red,Green,White, etc., and if I understand correctly, its' purity is measured in carats, 24 being the most pure.
How are the different colours arrived at? and if its by alloying the gold with other metals does this mean that coloured gold will never be 24 carat?

Answer 1

Oooh, you aren`t gonna like this. The color of gold doesn`t affect its purity. The purity of gold affects its color.

Answer 2

The chemical element gold is 24 carat = 100%
and it's color is constant. But the pure gold is very mild, so they add some other metals - copper, silver etc. The color of the lower grade gold i.e. 18 carat (alloy) depends on the other metals.

Answer 3

The gold is naturally different colours. It doesn't naturally react with other substances, and so is nearly always quite pure. The way it is then treated when being made into a ring, or whatever, will determine it's purity, really. So something could have impurities added so that it can be sold on cheapely, and a lot of items be made from one lot of gold. But the different colours occur naturally, and are just dependant on where the gold came from.

Answer 4

yes...... the colour of gold does affect its purity.coloured golds are an alloy made up of a mixture of gold,and depending on the colour
you want,copper silver nickle and palladium. 18 carat red gold and 18 carat white contain the same amount of gold 75% in each, the remaining 25% is copper or paladium.therefore the less yellow you have the less pure......

Answer 5

I see that opinions differ. You need some information straight from the horse's mouth

I got this:- "The mineral Gold is almost always mixed with a small amount of silver, and sometimes contains traces of copper and iron. A Gold nugget is usually 70 - 90 percent gold, and the remainder mostly silver. The color of pure Gold is bright golden yellow, but the greater the silver content, the whiter the color."

From here: http://www.3dchem.com/molecules.asp?ID=177

But that site's a bit technical. Basically, adding copper makes it redder, and adding silver or zinc makes it whiter. A mixture of alloys can be used for colour effect.

This website's more straightforward: http://www.gold.org/jewellery/technology/alloys/index.html

Answer 6

A mixture of silver and copper in the gold will highlight its colour. Too much silver will give a green tinge. Green is the opposite colour to gold on the colour spectrum and collectively large amounts of gold will give off a green aura. Too much copper will give a red tinge (rose gold) and the addition of even a little Nickel will overpower the colour of gold to silver, hence white gold is made.
10k gold is the minimum amount of gold that a product can be composed of and carry the label "gold", according to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission Guides to the Jewelry Industry.
In France, Italy and Switzerland, 18k is the lowest permissible standard to be called gold. England accepts 9k gold, while in some ocuntries of the world, 8k is the legal minimum standard.

Answer 7

You are getting good answers
but I havent yet seen that when making stuff like jewelry
additional metals are added to make it less soft so thet it endures longer
pure gold is easily worn thin

during Viet Nam war many soldiers brought pure gold jewelry back for their wives sweethearts and friends
those beautiful things wore right out and are just sitting in jewelry boxes in pieces now

Answer 8

You are correct. 24 caret is pure gold, at least 99%.

Colours in gold are made by adding copper (red) and silver (white).

Answer 9

probably as different colors (of gold) differ in its price (worth)

Answer 10

HI
NO GOLD IS NATURALLY DIFFERENT Colour's.