Question

Ornaments are usually made up of _______________gold.
(A) 22 carat
(B) 24 carat
(C) 21 carat
(D) 26 carat

Answer 1

Hint: Gold is considered to be the most precious metal that is generally used for the manufacturing of jewellery or ornaments. Gold is a noble metal that is resistant to most of the acids. Gold is also considered to be the most malleable of all the metals.

Complete answer:100 percent pure gold is basically 24 carat gold which is too soft for a metal. Owing to its softness, gold is considered to be very ductile (capability to be drawn into the wires) and malleable (capability to be hammered into the sheets). It is impossible for a jeweller to 100 percent pure gold (i.e. 24 carat) in an ornament which needs to tightly grasp onto some other precious stone or diamond. The main reason behind it is the gold’s exceptional softness. Actually, 24 carat gold is too soft to get deformed easily and lose its firm grip on a jewel and get slipped or fall out of the ornament. Thus, in order to yield a stronger ornament, most jewellers use 22 carat gold that is basically an alloy containing a slight amount of silver, copper or other metals in order to impart wear resistance.Hence, ornaments are usually made up of 22 carat gold.

Therefore, the correct answer is Option (A).

Note: 22 carat gold is approximately 91% pure while remaining 9% is devoted to other metals like copper, zinc, silver, etc. On the other hand, 24 carat gold is 99.9% pure which is mainly used to make bars and coins, and it is also employed even in medical devices and electronics.