Colored Gold

White and pure gold has a yellow color. But gold can also come in different colors. This is done by adding some other elements into the mix. If you add 14 parts of pure gold and 10 parts of some alloy, you will have 14-karat gold, 18 parts gold – 6 parts alloy creates 18 karat, etc. Here is where the ratio comes in: 14/24 equals 0.585 and 18/24 is 0.750. You should also know that there are many possible combinations and gold can have many nuances. If you want a reddish gold you can add copper. By adding 50/50 copper and silver you get the popular yellow gold you see in many marketplaces.

The white gold contains gold plus a white material like: palladium or nickel. You can measure the gold’s purity in karats.

The rose gold has copper alloy. Depending on the quantities, the gold can be red or pink. In the past, the Russian gold was the name of the red gold. But now that term belongs to the past.

The green gold alloy is made of gold and silver, without copper. You will get a rather greenish yellow.

Grey gold alloy has a lot of silver, copper and manganese.

Black gold is also popular and it is made by various techniques:

* Electroplating, with ruthenium or black rhodium.

* Patination with sulfur and oxygen compounds.

* Plasma chemical vapor deposition

Purple gold (or the violet gold) has aluminum also. 79% of the alloy is gold and the karat number is 18. But this type of gold is rather fragile and it can shatter easily. So this is why it is rather used as gem-jewelry rather than a material.

Blue gold is also very beautiful and it contains a mixture of indium and gold, in various proportions.