karat gold?

The term "karat", in the context of gold, is a measure of the *purity* of the gold, or the amount of other metal that may be added to it.

24 karat gold is "commercially pure" gold, around 99.9% pure. The impurities here are usually silver and some copper. This is the variety of gold that you'll find in "gold bars"

http://z.about.com/d/gonyc/1/0/G/I/gold01.jpg

Unfortunately, pure gold is VERY SOFT AND WEAK. It can easily be scratched, bent, dented, gouged, or broken. 24 carat gold is so soft, that if you try to set gemstones in it, they tend to fall right out. In fact, pure gold is almost useless for making *anything* out of, except perhaps gold bars, or "gold leaf"

Consequently, most "gold" jewelery is "14 karat" gold, which by weight is about 60% gold, 30% silver, and 10% copper; with small amounts of other metals added to improve it's properties....

http://www.gold.org/jewellery/technology/alloys/in...

This mixture is much *stronger* and more wear resistant than pure gold, and holds it's polish much better.

"18 karat" gold is also common, which is 75% gold/ 12% copper/ 12% silver. This alloy is softer and less durable than 14 carat, because of the higher gold content.

An alternative to this is "white gold" which is a mixture of perhaps 75 gold / 15 nickel / 5 zinc / 5 copper, though there are other different mixtures that can also be considered "white" gold.

When referring to diamonds and other gemstones, the word "carat" is simply a measure of weight. It's spelled with a *C* to distinguish it from the gold karat. A 1 carat diamond weighs exactly 1/5 of a gram.

~WOMBAT

Pure gold is 24 karat; gold that is 50 percent pure is 12 karat.

a measure of the fineness (i.e., purity) of gold. It is spelled carat outside the United States but should not be confused with the unit used to measure the weight of gems, also called carat. A gold karat is 124 part, or 4.1667 percent, of the whole, and the purity of a gold alloy is expressed as the number of these parts of gold it contains....

My mother worked in a jewelry store for 4 years. The karat means how pure the gold is, meaning how lustrous the shine is. 24k is very good, 18k to me is the best because it's not too shiny. I hope this helps.

Gold resists attacks by individual acids, but it can be dissolved by the aqua regia, so named because it dissolves gold. Gold also dissolves in alkaline solutions of cyanide, which have been used in mining. Gold dissolves in mercury, forming amalgam alloys. Gold is insoluble in nitric acid, which dissolves silver and base metals, a property that has long been used to confirm the presence of gold in items.

I doubt your earrings are 24kt. That is pure gold, and would be too soft. 14kt is most commonly used.