Gold is a highly valued precious metal that has been used for centuries for various purposes, including jewelry making. However, you may have noticed that pure gold jewelry is not available in the US market, and the highest carat you can find is usually 22 karats.
To understand why gold jewelry cannot be 24 karats, we need to understand what karat means. Karat is a unit of measurement used to indicate the purity of gold. It is measured on a scale of 0 to 24, with 24 karats being the purest form of gold. This means that 24-karat gold is 99.9% pure gold, with very little or no impurities. While pure gold is highly valuable and coveted, it is also very soft and malleable, making it unsuitable for making jewelry. Pure gold can easily bend or scratch, and it would not be able to hold the shape of a piece of jewelry. Therefore, gold jewelry is typically alloyed with other metals to increase its durability and strength. Alloys are created by mixing two or more metals to create a new metal with desired properties. In the case of gold jewelry, it is alloyed with other metals to create a metal that is strong enough to hold its shape and withstand daily wear and tear. The most common metals used for alloying gold are copper, silver, nickel, and zinc. These metals are added to gold in varying proportions to create different karats. The amount of metal alloyed with gold determines its karat. For example, 18-karat gold is made up of 75% pure gold and 25% other metals, while 14-karat gold is made up of 58.3% pure gold and 41.7% other metals. The higher the karat of gold, the more expensive it is, as it contains a higher percentage of pure gold. However, even 22-karat gold, which is the highest karat available in the market, is not pure enough to be considered 24 karats. This is because the addition of other metals to gold affects its purity, and it cannot be 100% pure. Even a small percentage of impurities can significantly affect the properties of gold, making it unsuitable for making jewelry.
In conclusion, gold jewelry cannot be 24 karats because pure gold is too soft and malleable to hold its shape and withstand daily wear and tear. Therefore, gold is alloyed with other metals to increase its durability and strength. The highest karat available in the US market is 22 karats, as even a small percentage of impurities can significantly affect the properties of gold. While pure gold is highly valued, gold jewelry made with alloys is still highly valued and prized for its beauty and durability.
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