Most of the gold used in jewellery is not pure gold but alloys of gold - Edexcel - GCSE Chemistry - Question 2 - 2023 - Paper 1
Question 2
Most of the gold used in jewellery is not pure gold but alloys of gold.
The purity of gold is measured in carats.
Figure 3 shows how the percentage of gold is relate... show full transcript
Worked Solution & Example Answer:Most of the gold used in jewellery is not pure gold but alloys of gold - Edexcel - GCSE Chemistry - Question 2 - 2023 - Paper 1
Step 1
State the relationship between the percentage of gold and the number of carats.
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Answer
The relationship between the percentage of gold and the number of carats is direct. Specifically, as the number of carats increases, the percentage of gold in the alloy also increases. This is because pure gold is defined as 24 carats, meaning that:
A carat value lower than 24 indicates the presence of other metals mixed with gold, reducing its percentage.
Therefore, the formula can be expressed as:
ext{Percentage of gold} = rac{ ext{Carats}}{24} imes 100
This implies that higher carat values correspond to a higher gold percentage.