How to Tell Real Gold From Fake
Gold is an attractive and shiny metal which is most commonly used for making jewellery. It is a chemical element which is highly valuable and besides being used for making jewellery, it is also used in making coins, medals, dentistry, electronics etc.
Gold is used as basis for monetary policies and used in many other fields.
Things Required:
– Magnet
– Piece of glass
– Unglazed porcelain tile
– Metal file
– Hydrochloric acid or a gold test kit
– Rubber gloves
– Safety glasses
– Cotton swab
Instructions
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1
Magnet
This test is not full proof but will tell you that the gold is real. You need to use a stronger magnet for this test. If your gold object sticks to the magnet than it is not pure. It might be gold plated or may be mixed with some other magnet.
However, it fails to attract with the magnet then you still cannot guarantee that your gold is real. -
2
Glass
You can test whether your gold object is pure or not with a piece of glass. Rub the gold object to the glass and if it leaves scratch marks then the gold is not pure. However, if it leaves the glass scratch less then it still may not be pure gold.
Note that you should not use a valuable piece of glass. You can use an old glass or unused frames of picture for this test. -
3
Unglazed porcelain tile
Unglazed porcelain tiles can be used to determine whether gold is real or fake. You simply need to scratch the tile with gold and check what colour marks are left. Your gold object is real if you see marks of yellow colour. However, if you see black or grey then your piece of gold is not pure. Your gold piece may be gold plated. -
4
Use fine metal file
You can check whether your gold object is pure or not by filing a small portion of it. If you can easily file a small section then the piece of gold is pure but if it takes time then it is not pure gold. -
5
Acid test
First buy hydrochloric acid from any hardware store and then take protective measures to conduct an acid test on goal. Dip cotton swab in the acid and drop small amount of acid on a small area of gold which is filed. If the piece of gold is pure then no acid can do no harm but if it breaks then it is not pure.
