As simple as it gets...

gold jewelry boxes gold jewelry television unique jewelry, gold jewelry rings vintage jewelry jewelry beads pearl jewelry, jewelry charms jewelry exchange men's jewelry, jewelry armoire indian jewelry , jewelry boxes jewelry television unique jewelry, jewelry rings vintage gold jewelry gold jewelry beads pearl jewelry, jewelry charms jewelry exchange men's jewelry, jewelry armoire indian jewelry bridal jewelry estate jewelry discount jewelry pandora jewelry, jewelry cleaner turquoise jewelry bridal jewelry estate jewelry discount jewelry pandora jewelry, jewelry cleaner turquoise jewelry

Gold is measured in many ways but for some reason this precious metal used in gold jewelry is weighed in a system of measurements called "Troy Measurements". Troy measurements are such that one pound (lb) is divided up into 12 Troy Ounces and each Troy Ounce is divided up into 20 units called Pennyweight (dwt). Therefore, you must be careful when talking to someone about a quantity of gold jewelry. Make sure that the ounces you are talking about are the same ounces you are thinking about. Here are a few conversions to help you convert to other systems of measurement of mass.

Gold Jewelry Facts

Gold is usually alloyed in gold jewelry to give it more strength, and the term carat describes the amount of gold present (24 carats is pure gold). It is estimated that all the gold in the world, so far refined from gold mining, could be placed in a single cube 60 ft. on a side. It is metallic, with a yellow colour when in a mass, but when finely divided it may be black, ruby, or purple.

It is the most malleable and ductile metal; 1 ounce (28 g) of gold can be beaten out to 300 square feet. It is a soft metal and is usually alloyed to give it more strength. It is a good conductor of heat and electricity, and is unaffected by air and most reagents thus it is perfect for gold jewelry.

Gold is readily available commercially and its price changes day by day and is one of the most widely tracked commercial prices including gold jewelry.

The most common gold compounds are auric chloride (AuCl3) and chlorauric acid (HAuCl4). A mixture of one part nitric acid with three of hydrochloric acid is called aqua regia (because it dissolved gold, the King of Metals). It is unaffected by air and most reagents. It is found free in nature and associated with quartz, pyrite and other minerals. Two thirds of the world's supply comes from gold mining in South Africa, and 2/3 of USA production gold moning is from South Dakota and Nevada. Gold is found in sea water, but no effective economic process has been designed (yet) to extract it from this source.

Back to top »

Here is a brief description of gold used in gold jewelry.

* Standard state: solid at 298 K
* Colour: gold
* Classification: Metallic
* Availability:
Gold is available in many forms including wire, foil, and bars. Small and large samples of gold foil, wire, and teflon coated wire (and gold alloy in wire form) can be purchased from Advent Research Materials via their web catalogue.

Here is a brief summary of the isolation of gold. It would not normally be necessary to make gold in the laboratory as it is readily available commercially. The most romantic way to extract gold is by panning it out from a stream in some pleasant valley but most such sources are now depleted. Panning relies upon the density of gold (which is very high) being much greater than that of the sand and other particulates. It therefore settles to the bottom of the pan. Today, more often than not, gold is extracted from ores. These ores often contain relatively little gold. Some of these processes cause environmental concern. The ore is crushed to a powder so as to expose the small gold particles. These are dissolved by treatment of the rock with cyanide solution in air. The result of this is a gold cyanide complex. Addition of zinc powder to the resulting solution precipitates out the gold. 4Au + 8NaCN + O2 + 2H2O ? 4Na[Au(CN)2] + 4NaOH 2Na[Au(CN)2] + Zn ? 2NaCN + Zn(CN)2 + Au (s)