时差N小时:白金为何是白色的? What Makes White Gold White?

Many people associate the metal gold with the colorgold.

很多人都认为金子就应该是金色。

But,some gold jewelry is not golden at all: it'swhite.

但一些黄金首饰的颜色并不是金色，而是白色。

Gold is one of the heaviest and softest metals.

黄金是最重最软的金属之一。

Pure gold, called 24-carat gold, is so soft that itcanbe easily dented.

纯金，也就是24k金质地非常软，很容易产生凹陷。

In the movies, old-time prospectors bite on yellow nuggets to see if they're realgold because24-carat gold will show a bite mark.

在电影中，以前的勘探者通常会咬一咬黄金来看看是否是真金，这是因为你在24k金上会发现咬痕。

In the real world, jewelers don't want to usemetal that can be dented so easily.

然而，在现实世界中，珠宝商并不希望使用那种易产生凹陷的金属。

So, most jewelry is actually an alloy of gold with harder metals.

因此，大多数金属实际上是黄金与其他硬金属铸成的合金。

Since pure gold is called 24-carat gold, an alloy of half gold and half other metals is called 12caratgold, because, well,12 is half of 24.

由于纯金被叫做24k金，那么由黄金和其他金属各半铸成的合金就叫做12k金，因为12是24的一半。

If most gold jewelry is an alloy, why is some white and some yellow?

如果大多数黄金首饰是合金的话，为什么有的是白色有的是黄色呢?

The final appearance dependson the type of alloy metal used.

珠宝最终的颜色还要取决于所使用合金金属的类型。

Alloys made with white metals like silver, palladium and nickelcreate white-colored gold.

用白色金属，如银、钯和镍制成的合金就是白色的黄金。

Adding some copper to the alloy will restore the yellow color, but toomuch copper can turn thegold reddish.

在合金中融入铜可以恢复成黄色，但是如果加入过多铜就会使黄金变红。

The color of gold jewelry doesn't reveal how much gold is in it — a piece of white gold mayhavethe same number of carats as a piece of yellow gold.

黄金首饰的颜色并不能说明含金量。一块白金的含金量可能与一块黄金的含金量相同。

But, it has a different alloy metal, and so ithas a different color.

但由于黄金里掺有不同的合金金属，因此黄金可以呈现出不同的颜色。

Unlike white gold, fool's gold has no gold in it at all.

与白金不同的是，愚人金不含任何黄金。

It's a mineral called iron pyrite.

它其实是一种叫做黄铁矿的物质。

Black gold isn'tgold either, it's oil.

黑金也不是黄金，而是石油。

Which is also valuable, but doesn't look as good on your fiancée's finger.

黑金同样很值钱，但是戴在你未婚妻手指上可不那么好看。