Types.org.uk » jewellery http://types.org.uk Sun, 20 Nov 2011 17:33:23 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Types of Gold http://types.org.uk/gold/types-of-gold/ http://types.org.uk/gold/types-of-gold/#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:40:55 +0000 admin http://types.org.uk/?p=153 Gold Bullion

Different Types of Gold - Gold Bullion

This article describes the what gold is, how gold gets it’s colour, the different types of gold as well as just some of gold’s many uses and applications.

Contents

What is gold

Gold is the world’s most malleable and ductile metal. One gram of Gold can be beaten flat into a sheet of one metre square. Gold leaf is capable of being beaten so thin that it becomes translucent.

Gold is easily alloyed with another metal. These alloys can be produced to modify aspects of such as hardness, melting point, or to create different exotic colours.

Colour

Colours of gold alloys - cc

This chart represents the different colours achievable by mixing gold as an alloy with silver and copper.

Whereas most pure metals are gray or white in colour – gold is unique in its yellow colour.

This is determined by the density of valence electrons, which oscillate as a collective “plasma” medium reproduced in terms of a “quasiparticle” called “plasmon”.

Types of gold

Many people think of different types of gold as the different “karat” weight of the metal – which is akin to the purity of gold. 24 karat gold is considered to be “pure gold”.

Alloys with lower “caratage” – most commonly:

  • 22k
  • 18k
  • 14k
  • 10k

The alloys contain higher percentages of copper, or other base metals or silver or palladium in the alloy.

Uses and applications

A list of some of the many uses and applications of gold:

  • Monetary exchange
    • Gold facilitates the exchange of currency around the world
  • Investment
    • Many holder of gold see it as investment, separate in many ways from currency or the stock market – a hedge against inflation
  • Jewellery
    • The softness and flexibility of gold makes the perfect metal to use with jewellery. Many people own gold jewellery and it becoming increasing common to exchange or sell gold.
  • Industry
    • Gold solder is used for joining the components of  gold jewellery using high temperatures.

Thanks for reading this article on the different types of gold.

Image by BullionVault

Useful video: Types of gold

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