How to Test Gold?

If you are going to buy Gold, or you have a Gold piece, it would be important for you to test its purity. It is astonishing to know that the stamps on Gold articles and pieces of Golds are sometimes fake. Therefore, you need to test the purity of Gold yourself before buying it.

Requirements:
In order to test the purity of Gold, you need a Gold test Kit. This kit is available all over the world.

Gold Test Kit:
Gold Test Kit consists of three items.

1. A touchstone: It is a black stone, usually jasper or basalt.
2. A Gold Test needle.
3. A gold test Acid.

Procedure:

First of all look for the carat stamp on the piece of Gold. It has a number on it from 1-24 with the letter 'K' behind it. The number represent the purity of Gold in Carats, while K being the symbol of it. When you have known the number listed on the piece, choose the Gold test needle of that number. For example, if the stamp says 14 K, choose a 14 K gold test needle. Now scratch the touchstone with the Gold test needle you chose (14 K in this example) and with the Gold piece side by side. Now take the acid of the same number (like 14 K gold test acid in this example) and put a drop of it on the both scratches. If the reaction of both scratches is the same, the purity of the Gold is as listed on the Carats Stamp, otherwise repeat the process with a different set of needle and acid until you get the required result (same reaction of scratches.)

Be sure, that every time you decide to choose an acid, its number should be the same as that of the needle.

In this way you can find out the correct purity of the Gold article or Piece under consideration.