Gold: An Exquisite Element
Gold was just a metal, until humankind gave value to it and deemed it precious. But what does it have that it surpassed all the other elements in the periodic table to be at the top? Well, not in terms of price as platinum is way more expensive than gold. We’ll focus more on gold being valuable as it has been part of the monetary system for a very long time.
Why gold?
It’s common but rare.
Gold started thousands of years ago as a means for trade. It’s common to all in a way that people from different places can easily recognize it but not easily get hold of it. Unlike other metals such as copper – insert the Law of Demand and Supply – there’s just so plenty of it around that it won’t be considered too much when somebody has it.
Gold may be rare but it’s not extremely rare that people will be investing more in looking for it than in actually expediting it. It can also be found in its native form which made extraction easy.
It reacts with nothing.
Gold is completely inert, retaining its own composition. That said, water and air don’t have any effect on it. It will remain the way it is as our ancestors found it millions of years ago. Because of that too, the value of gold isn’t diminished by usage. A 15-year old gold when sold can give you back the price you’ve paid for it. It’s much like a currency which will be reliant to exchange rate.
It can’t be reproduced but can be used in any other way.
Gold can only be reproduced by combining it with other metals, making it durable. Producing gold though is beyond science, what you can come up at most is an imitation. Gold however, with its very soft texture, can easily be hammered or drawn into anything. It’s also conductive to electricity which opens a wide array of using it.
Other metals may have some of the characteristics listed above, but not all. It all comes back to gold being just the way it is. It’s simply unique. From its abundance, to its composition, down to its color.
Gold In Our Daily Life
Aside from jewelries, status symbols, and in dentistry, gold has been incorporated in our daily life one way or another. Here are just some of its useful applications:
Electronics: cellphones, CPU’s and motherboards in desktop/laptop computers, calculators, GPS units, personal digital assistants, and televisions.
Medicine: treatment of certain cancers, rheumatoid arthritis, Lagophthalmos ( inability to close the eyelids completely), also used in diagnosis, surgical instruments, and life-support devices.
Aerospace: coats the insides of space vehicles as protection from radiation, lubricant between mechanical parts, and used in astronauts’ helmet.
DIY Steps in Testing a Gold
These methods are only good as an initial test, there’s absolutely no harm in doing all of them to see if a gold is authentic. The result will vary though depending on the gold’s purity.
Visual Inspection
This may not tell it all but it’s a definitely a start. Check first for the hallmark as it would tell you right away if you should proceed with further testing. Take note that anything less than 10K is not considered as gold anymore.
If by instance you have a 24k gold, do a thorough inspection by using a magnifying glass. As what have been discussed before, pure gold is totally unreactive with other elements. That means detecting any discoloration should tell you that it isn’t pure gold.
Using a Magnet.
Gold isn’t magnetic so if the object of interest easily attracts to it, it is definitely some kind of other metal. For this method to be effective one must use a very strong magnet. Not all metal that won’t be attracted to magnet is gold though. So it would be better if all the methods mentioned here will be tried. For better comparison of results.
Hardness Test
As one of gold’s characteristics, it is naturally soft that’s why it can easily be hammered, drawn and alloyed with other metals. Using Mohs Scale as a basis, it can be seen that glass has a hardness of 5.5 while gold has only 2.5 -3. Meaning, if a gold is able to scratch a mirror, it’s purity is so low and the other metal it is plated with is obviously dominant.
Porcelain Tile Test
Again for this method, the gold just needs to be rubbed against a porcelain tile, if it leaves a golden streak, then it’s gold. A black streak on the other hand is a result of a pyrite. The drawback of this method is that it can easily leave a scratch on real gold products.
Foundation/Face Powder Test
This is somehow opposite to the porcelain test. Just apply a small portion of face powder or foundation on your arm, rub the gold against it and if it leaves a black streak, then it’s gold.
Density Test
Pure gold has a density of 19.3 g/ml which is very dense. Real gold when placed in water should sink all the way to the bottom. If you have weighing scale and some measuring vial, you should be able to calculate accurately its density using the Density = Mass/Volume formula. When obtaining the density for gold it should be at least close to the 19.3 g/ml mark.
Once again, these are just the basic steps that you can do in identifying a gold. Here’s a video in getting more accurate results using the acid test kit.