A few hundred years ago, at the turn of the century (XIX-XX), the profession of a gold digger was the most demanded and attractive. Thousands of hunters for luck went to Alaska in search of a golden sand. Many writers have addressed this topic. Jack London, in several novels, splendidly described the period of the gold rush.
But not everything that glitters is gold. How to identify gold? What can you confuse him with? And how not to make a mistake to today's gold diggers, having stumbled upon golden grains?
The first thing you need to pay attention to is size. If a piece of the metal you found has a size of more than two centimeters, then most likely you have become the owner of the so-called "simpletons gold." So miners call pyrite, which is also called a stone carving fire, whose resemblance to gold is obvious. There is another mineral - millerite, which is also very similar to gold, although there is a difference, of course, - this is a characteristic shade, therefore we strongly recommend that you carefully look at the color.
Answering the question “How to determine gold?”, Let’s say that we should pay attention to the brilliance. Gold has a very special luster; it can reflect eighty percent of the rays of the sun. None of the above-mentioned minerals similar to gold can reflect more than fifty-three percent.
There is still an experiment that will help to understand how to determine gold. For this you need unglazed porcelain. Swipe a piece of supposed gold on porcelain and look at the trail that remains. If the strip is golden or metallic, then you are in luck - this is gold. The black or greenish color of the line is a sign of a lack of gold. You can still pick the sample with a needle. If small fractions are poured, it is too early to rejoice. Gold is a soft metal, therefore with such an impact it will never give pieces.
How to determine the authenticity of gold in other ways? Try to weigh the sample found. A piece of gold measuring 2x2x2 centimeters will have a weight close to one hundred and forty grams, while the weight of pyrite, for example, of the same size will not exceed forty grams.
There is another option that can help answer the question of how to determine gold. The only thing you need is a powerful magnet. Real gold will never attract to a magnet. If this happened, then in front of you is at best low-grade gold, but at worst - gilded trinket. Often from know-it-alls you can hear other ways of checking. Vinegar, for example, available in every home, should change the color of the fake if the product is in it for more than two minutes. Real gold will never change color. But we do not recommend using iodine for verification, since the color will not only change the fake, but the gold of 585 and 750 samples will be irrevocably damaged. Refrain from such experiments. Another home way to test gold came to us from Soviet times. Then in every pharmacy a lapis pencil was sold. A small dash was applied to the wet surface of the tested product with this miracle pencil. On gold, he did not leave any traces, but the fake was revealed immediately.
Today, when gold prices are very high, the question of how to determine a gold sample is very serious . After all, the price of this precious metal and the price of the product from it will depend on the sample. Today, most often, specialists use XRF X-ray fluorescence. This quick and cheap method is able to determine not only the degree and purity of the sample, but even the karate of the presented sample made of precious metal. Platinum, gold, silver, a number of other metals can be instantly checked for authenticity by this method.