Because of the doubts about the honesty of some manufacturers, the question arises how to test gold at home, how to estimate the fake in front of us or really precious metal.
Those who conscientiously studied chemistry in school should know that gold is a rather soft and very plastic metal. It can easily stretch, flatten, or otherwise deform in some other way. At the same time, the jewelry that we use must be durable, otherwise the entire work of the jeweler will lose its meaning.
For this reason, and also because of the economy, people have learned how to make alloys, adding other metals to real gold, for example, copper. Scammers skillfully use this rule, overstating the number of additives and making, in fact, a fake. Sometimes they make up alloys that do not contain precious metals. Here in order to identify false gold or not, and there are certain methods.
Sensitive Hearing People
For rings and other jewelry made from a single piece of metal, there is a method for determining sound authenticity. It is necessary to throw the decoration on a solid glass surface and listen to how it will sound. If you have a good ear, you will hear a clear sound. So the real gold rings. There is no such sound in the fake. It is best to compare the sound of the product in which you have no doubt with the sound of the product you are testing.
Determination of the strength of
If you are not afraid to slightly spoil the appearance of a gold product, you can explore it for strength. The oldest way is to bite the gold with your teeth. Traces will remain on the genuine metal, as it is soft, as we have said. But given the fact that many of us have jewelry 585 samples, this method does not always work.
You can identify an obvious forgery by lightly filing it with a file. If under the light shiny layer will be darker, then you are clearly deceived. Instead of a file, the ornament is scratched with any sharp object. In the old days, this was done in pawnshops, so you can see small scratches and files on some antique jewelry. Of course, there are no such scratches on new products.
The quality of a gold ring can be determined by swiping it over glass with an effort. Gold should not leave marks, while other, harder metals can scratch it.
Chemical reaction
Any chemist can tell you how to check gold for authenticity using a chemical reaction. The fact is that gold is a very inert metal. In its pure form, it practically does not oxidize and does not enter into a chemical reaction with many substances.
We want to warn those who decided to check their gold jewelry with iodine, that this should be done very carefully. Iodine is one of those rare elements that react with gold. To verify that you are not in bronze or copper, you should proceed as follows.
- On the inconspicuous side of gold, make a small rubbed with scissors to remove the top layer, in case it is pure gilt.
- In place of the caster drip quite a bit of iodine.
- Wait 1 minute.
- Wipe the iodine with a cotton swab.
If there is a speck left, then this is real gold. Remove the stain left by iodine, it is necessary immediately by rubbing the product with toothpaste.
A more reliable way to check - acid. A set for determining the authenticity of gold with acid is found in stores for jewelers and in stores of laboratory supplies and chemical reagents. Its essence is that the acid does not react with gold, does not change its color. If there are any impurities, then the color changes slightly. The coarse imitation is immediately spotted.Probes for gold of different samples are also sold. If you use a graphite stick to apply a little of such liquid to a gold product, then by the reaction on the surface you will be able to determine whether you are fake or not. There are no traces on a quality product.
To determine if a genuine gold jewel is available or not, buy a lap top pencil in a pharmacy. Wet the gold in water and put a dot or dash in pencil. On real gold, after such manipulations, no traces should remain, and the other metal will turn black.
At home, acetic acid is the most affordable. Immersing the ring in vinegar you can see how it will change its color. Quality, real gold should not change.
Magnetic properties and immersion in water
Additionally, you can check the properties of the product using a magnet. Real gold will never be magnetised, however, like copper or brass. But if magnetic properties manifest themselves, then you are holding ordinary iron in your hands, and there is no gold in it.
Another way to identify a fake is to gently lower the product into a container with water. Since gold is a very dense metal, it should sink quite quickly. Smoothly and slowly lowering the subject leads to suspicion.
Stamped
Always consider the stigma. On the gold jewelry must necessarily be a stigma with the name of the manufacturer and with a sample of gold. If the product is Russian-made, then before the breakdown there should be a female profile in the headset. Although many “experts” have learned to forge stamps, they need to be checked. Some fraudsters are afraid to stamp, because such a fake is punished more seriously.
We have described the most common methods of checking at home. If we are talking about a very expensive decoration, which you need to check at all costs, it is better to do a spectral analysis. With it, in a few seconds the device gives accurate information on how much of which metal is contained in the product.
