Gold and Gold Plated

Gold is a metal, which has been known to man since ancient times. It has become a precious metal due to its brightness, softness, corrosion resistance in most chemical natures, ductility and scarcity. Many people confuse the gold with gold plated items. Plated gold is a coating of gold which is fused on another metal. The price of gold and the need to imitate gold make the need for gold plated items. Jewelry is the most common items made of gold.

Gold

Gold is a soft, malleable and ductile metal. Due to the softness of gold it is alloyed with other metals like copper. The percentage of gold in a gold alloy is indicated by karat. 24K (24 karat) gold is the pure gold, and it is not alloyed. 22K gold has 22 parts of gold and 2 parts of another alloying element by weight. The contents of gold and the alloying element are expressed out of 24. All the alloys are usually called gold. The gold content of the item should be stamped on it. 24K gold is not suitable for practical day to day usage on account of its softness. The resistance to corrosion is excellent in pure gold. With the decreasing content of gold in gold alloys, the resistant to corrosion decreases. Therefore, the durability of gold with a high percentage of gold is higher. It is a tenuous metal which can be thinned out to a very fine leaf. Because gold is one of the metals, which has a high electrical conductivity, it is used for circuits in the electronic industry. Because of the expensiveness of gold, gold plated items have become an option for gold items.

Gold Plated

Gold plated means that a coating of gold is applied on the surface of another metal. At least 10K gold is required to apply the coating. The widely used technique of gold plating is electro plating. A Potassium – Gold cyanide solution is taken as the bath for plating. Other than that, electro less plating and immersion plating techniques are also used. The plating of gold wears off quickly depending on the usage. Gold plated items are also prone to corrosion due to the base metals beneath the coating. Due to the metals under the coating, gold plated jewelry may cause allergies to some people. The durability of gold plated items depends on the thickness of the layer of gold, the gold content of the gold layer and the quality of the metal used beneath the gold layer. Gold can be identified from gold plated items by carrying out appropriate tests.

Gold and gold plated items are difficult to differentiate because of their same appearance. But they can be identified with tests. So the tests available can be used to identify whether the items are fake or not in the case of jewelry. Gold plated items are widely used as a substitute for gold.

What is the difference between Gold and Gold Plated? • Pure gold or gold alloys are called gold. Gold plated means that a coating of gold is applied on the surface of another metal. • The durability of gold is higher than that of gold plated metals. • Gold is more expensive than gold plated metals.