White Gold: Know what happens, how it earns

what is white gold

In addition to the usual conventional or yellow gold, white gold is also a popular metal developed by alloying gold with a range of white metals, including silver, palladium, and nickel. Since pure gold is a very soft metal, in all gold jewellery, it is mixed with hard metals to provide strength and durability. In the case of white gold, the white color of gold is made with the help of silver colored alloys.

Yellow Gold: Natural gold is yellow in color and is stable under standard conditions which means it will not rust or corrode. Generally the more yellow a piece of gold is – the purer it is but at the same time it is less durable. Therefore, some base metal alloy is added to make it stronger while making jewellery.

What is the difference between White Gold and Yellow Gold?

radium coating

White gold: This is 24K gold mixed with white base metals including silver, palladium, nickel, and sometimes zinc. The karat rating of white gold is determined by the amount of alloyed metal. When mixed with zinc, white gold still has a yellowish tint followed by a coating of rhodium. Radium gives white gold its color. Also by covering the soft yellow gold alloy, rhodium makes white gold more durable.

White gold is more expensive than yellow gold

Since rhodium is expensive, it adds to the cost of white gold jewelery and makes it costlier than yellow gold jewellery. Now the question arises, should you buy white gold? Buying white gold is considered a good sign in terms of durability. However, the drawback with white gold is that over time, the effect of the rhodium wears off and the yellow underside of white gold becomes visible.