Amethyst Jewelry

Gold Guide

The scientific side of the Gold metal

Atomic no: 79
Atomic Symbol: Au
Atomic Weight: 196.9665

Gold is considered pure in its metallic yellow color. It has derived its name from; the basic name yellow is derived from the Indo-European word which reflects the most obvious properties of gold. Hence the same word is known as Gold (English), Gold (German), Guld (Danish), Gulden (Dutch), Goud (Afrikaans), Gull (Norwegian) and Kulta (Finnish).

Properties of gold:
Gold is the most malleable and ductile metals after Platinum. It is said that it is so soft that a single gram can be beaten into a sheet of one square meter, or an ounce into 300 square feet. The gold leaf when can be beaten into a thin leaf to become translucent.

Measurement of Gold:
Gold is measured in terms of Carat which gives the purity of the gold. The word “carat” comes from “carob” basically a seed originally used to measure the balance scales. The 24 carat gold is considered to be the purest. The purity of the gold is measured in terms of “fineness” which means “parts per thousand”, hence, 18 carats is 18/24th of 1000 equal to 750 fineness.

Alloys of Gold:

The alloys of gold are usually mixture of silver, copper, and zinc, and the amounts of each can be varied to affect the final color, normally white and red gold.

Weighs of Gold:
Gold is made of different bars and different weights. The known are the large “'London Good Delivery Bars” which is traded internationally. These bars weigh about 400 Troy Ounces, i.e. 12.5 kg/ 27 lbs. each. Others are denominated in kilograms, grams, troy ounces, etc. In grams, bars range from 1 g up to 10 kg. In troy it is weight as oz, from 1/10 tr.oz to 400 tr.oz. Other bars include “Tola bars” and “Tael bars”.