How to Understand Karat Gold
Karat gold is a unit of measurement heard often when discussing jewelry in the United States. It is not to be confused with the karat which is used to measure weight; karat gold measures the purity of gold. Keeping these things in mind will help when shopping for gold jewelry. It's also good to remember that not all countries use karat gold as a unit of measurement; if you're traveling in Europe and are considering buying gold, it's helpful to know that they measure gold purity differently there, and you should know how to convert these measurements to karat gold. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Learn not to get karat gold mixed up with the use of karat as a measurement of mass. This second usage of the karat is reserved for weighing gemstones and is equivalent to 0.2 grams. Karat gold, on the other hand, refers to the purity of gold alone and is unrelated to its weight.
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Know that karat gold is a way of measuring the purity of gold by using a scale which ends at 24. To find the percentage of gold within an item, locate its karat stamp -- a small engraved stamp which will tell you how many karats the item has -- and divide the number by 24. For example, if the karat stamp reads "18K," then the item is 75 percent gold (18/24 = 0.75, or 75 percent).
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Remember that not all countries use karat gold as a way to measure the purity of gold. In Europe, the purity of gold is marked only in terms of percentage and multiplied by 10. So if an item is 75 percent gold, the marking in Europe would be 750. To derive the karat value from the European value, first divide by 1,000, then multiply the result by 24. For example, to get the karat value of an item marked 750, divide by 1000, which yields 0.75. Multiplying 0.75 by 24 yields 18, so an item marked 750 in Europe would be 18-karat gold in the United States.
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References
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