Can Gold Jewelry Tarnish? 

Tarnishing of gold is broadly defined as the spotty and relatively mild corrosion of the gold surface layer, and it appears as a thin layer of dark patina on an article made of gold. Now if you type in a search engine you will get some who will tell you that real gold tarnishes the others will tell you that real gold does not. That is why we thought it to be appropriate to write this blog in a bid to ensure that people get the information they need without anyone confusing them with answers or terms.

Gold is the chemical element which stands in the fourth group of the periodic system of elements, and it is one of the least reactive metals. You know when gold is on its own, or when it is pure gold it is not very receptive to oxygen so it remains shiny does not even get to rust or tarnish, this is going back to what pure gold is. In the case of jewelry, it is unique to obtain a composition that has only the addition element of gold.

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Things you need to Consider about Gold Jewelry

It is important to understand that pure gold or gold of 24 karat is not appropriate to use in jewelry because they are too soft and thus mixed with base metals. Thus it is these other base metals that are alloyed with gold that either reacts with or to oxygen, sulfur and moisture that tarnishes your gold jewelry.

That is why, the higher the karat of a gold jewelry is, the safer it is from tarnishing and that, which cannot tarnish, is 24 karat gold. When you are going to wear the gold jewelry and they get tarnished, then this doesn’t reduce its worth of being real gold because it may not be a pure gold or 24k gold. Real gold jewelry is not simply as invulnerable, and may become tarnished over time.

• There are even some exceptionally few cases when jewelry with high karats of gold lose their shimmer but in general, the lesser the percentage filled with other metals in the gold, the fewer the chances that the gold item will tarnish.

• Karat gold jewels, whenever they tarnish, do so in a slower phase as compared with the silver. Here are some of the common reasons that will trigger or hasten gold tarnishing:Here are some of the common reasons that will trigger or hasten gold tarnishing:

Common Causes of Tarnishing

The most common causes of tarnishing come from oxygen and sulfur compounds reacting with elements of moisture which affect silver formations. Honestly if our body chemistry is not the same that is why some kinds of jewelry may look dull or start to rust faster than the others.

Other factors which can also cause the degradation of even higher gold karat like that of 14 karat or 18 karat jewelry is the constant contact to chemicals like perfumes, hair sprays, colognes and shampoos, cleaning materials such as chlorine and detergents.

It would be surprising, but it is also true that products containing acids or compounds with a significant amount of sulfur contribute to tarnishing. There are foods that can greatly help in tarnishing and they include onions, fruit juices, spices and most pickled items.

Preventive Steps

Before knowing how it will remain an asset to individuals who love wearing jewelry, you should avoid using the following items if you are in need of staying with the gold jewelries for many years.

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It’s also important to also remove your jewelry even when washing your hands. Constant rubbing of soap on your gold jewelry causes the latter to develop a blunt look while it becomes even more difficult to wash, especially if there are heaps of soapy deposits.

When storing your gold jewelry it should be done in a way that it will not overweight a particular section of the jewelry because that would cause the jewelry to scratch each other hence get damaged. If the precious jewels are stored in the conventional box, then of course, you might place a pack of silica gel to be certain that the box itself is dry.

All that the experts can safely conclude from this situation is that at one time or the other the said jewelry might have been subjected to a corrosive environment, and this does not in any way imply that the gold items depicted in these trinkets are fake.

Do 14 karat rings contain metals that will cause them to tarnish?

Rings made of gold of 14-karat standard and above would not tarnish much if at all. It is a given that the gold rings that are below 14-karat will have less of pure gold content; the rings are also likely to get a tarnish with time.

In the same manner as above, the two different types of gold rings; the 18-karat gold rings will be slower in tarnishing as compared to 14-karat gold rings because of its high ratio of gold. Karat refers to the purity of gold; the higher karat number signifies greater proportion of gold and less of other base metals that are bound to tarnish.

Are tarnished gold rings fake?

It does not mean that you are wearing a fake ring or that it is an altogether different band; it just implies that yes, your ring is gold, but it is not gold in its purest form, 24 carats gold. In fact it is hardly possible to come across any kind of jewelry or any piece of jewelry that is restricted to 24 karat gold mainly because it is so soft.

Conclusion

As a rule, tarnishing phenomena are observed on items made from metal with low gold karats and is more apparent on items made of gold with karat number less than 14. It was seen that there is negligible tarnish in 14 K gold jewelries and rarely in the 18 K gold. 

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