What is fourteen karat gold if its not pure gold?
Pure gold is 24 karat, and it’s too soft to use in jewelry – it would bend, dent, or break very easily. Fourteen, ten, and nine karat gold are all blends of alloys (metals other than gold) and pure gold. The karat number indicates how much alloy metal has been added to the pure gold, using the full 24 karat as the starting point for measurement. Fourteen karat gold is, therefore, 14/24 gold and 10/24 alloy metal; likewise, ten karat is 10/24 gold and 14/24 alloy metal. For yellow gold, the base metals used are silver, copper, and zinc.
