Whatsapp
Since ancient times, gold has always been said as a “Special Metal”, until now it is still traded at high prices.
Unfortunately, there are many “counterfeit products” in the gold trading market. If the surface of the other metals is plated with gold, it will look like a “gold ingot” on the outside.
When confirming the authenticity of gold, it is necessary to rely on the relevant information provided by the “density of gold”. What is the meaning of the gold’s density? Specifically, how much is it? If you are “considering to buy gold” or “want to confirm whether the gold you have is real gold or fake gold”, we will introduce the relevant information you need to know one by one as below.
“Density” is an important point when checking metal
There are many types of metals and each metal comes with unique characteristics.
Example, weight, conductivity, hardness, etc., these characteristics will be quite different in different types of metals.
Many metals “look exactly the same”, but as long as you carefully check their characteristics, you can know “the metal in your hand matches with what kind of metal characteristics”. And “density” is one of these “metal properties”.
Density refers to the mass of a substance at 1 cm3. Among the many metals, even though some metals are prepared in the same amount, some are extremely heavy, and some are exceptionally light when they are held in hand. It is because the density of each metal is not the same. Density is an inherent property of the metal, so if it is the same metal, its value is always the same. Even for metal with same appearance, if the density is measured separately, the difference between the two items can be identify immediately.
What is the specific value of gold density?
In gold trading, the value of density has great significant. When someone brings gold to the recycle store, the method of judging the authenticity through density measurement may improve the accuracy.
So, what is the specific density of gold?
Answer is 19.32 g/cm3.
If for some reason it is impossible to tell the type of metal, you can determine whether it is gold by calculating the density of the substance and check whether it meets 19.32 g/cm3.
By the way, the density of other metals is as follows:
・Silver ＝ 10.50 g/cm3
・Platinum ＝ 21.45 g/cm3
・Iron ＝ 7.874 g/cm3
You can try to measure the density of the metal you have to find out the closest value to what type, maybe you van guess the name of the metal!
When you don’t know the purity of gold, density is a convenient point
Apart from the so-called “pure gold”, gold also has alloys mixed in fixed proportions.
Many jewelleries have the label of K18 and K14. These “K” gold are alloys made to make the gold produce “hardness” enough for daily use. Alloy which made of “hardness”. However, the purchase price is lower because the K gold contains less gold than pure gold.
Clearly labelled jewellery is the best but unfortunately sometimes there is no engraved from the beginning, or the label gradually wears out during use. The engraving is for reference only. It is best to know the purity of gold by measuring the density. For example:
K24（So-called pure gold）, Density: 19.32 g/cm3；
K18 Mid Density 14.84 ~ 16.12 g/cm3
K14 Low Density 12.91 ~ 14.44 g/cm3 as the reference standard for judgement
Mixing different metals will also make the density difference, therefore the density value if K gold will be a range. Please use it as a “reference standard” for the density of K gold.
Own method of measuring gold density
If you want to determine the type of metal, you can first try to calculate the density of substance by yourself. With a small technique you can measure the density of metal at home.
Tools
Scale, fishing line, plastic cup or bowl, water
Step
1. Put the metal you want to measure directly on the scale.
2. Write down the number displayed (No. A).
3. Put water in the cup (bowl) and put it on the scale. Reset the weighing scale to zero.
4. Tie the metal with the fishing line and put the metal into the water.
5. Write down the number displayed (No. B).
6. Divide the No. A by the No. B to confirm the calculated value.
The point at this time is to find the no. B (volume).
It is not easy for ordinary people to get the weight of metal in the water by using the tools available at home. Sometimes the value changes due to small reasons. Please use the number measured by yourself as a “reference standard” to identify metals.
If you want to determine what type of metal, it is better to leave it to experts to judge at jewellery recycle store. The recycle store has a complete range of equipment to measure density or specific density and can carefully assess for customer.
