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About the Store | Jewelry & Gemstones
Why does white gold turn yellow?
There is actually no such thing as white gold. Gold is yellow. In fact, all metals are silvery gray in color with just two exceptions, copper and gold. When jewelers refer to white gold they are actually talking about white gold alloys. In most other major languagees these alloys are described as gray rather then white.
In it's pure form, gold is too soft to be used for general jewelry although there are some cultures which do wear pure gold jewelry, it would need to be heavily made and carefully used. It is usual for gold to be mixed with other metals to produce an alloy. Throughout history people have preferred the color of gold jewelry to remain close to that of pure gold itself, so this jewelry is made using gold alloys. Other metals mixed with gold to produce allows include copper and silver, which are the common components of most yellow gold alloys. Nickel, zinc and palladium are used when creating white alloys.
It is common practice to plate all white gold jewelry with rhodium since it is very bright and highly reflective. When the rhodium plating wear throught, the color of the alloy can be seen and can vary from gray to a yellowish gray. On some cheaper jewelry yellow gold alloys are rhodium plated so that when the plating wears out the natural yellow color of the alloy appears.
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