時差N小時:白金為何是白色的? What Makes White Gold White?

Many people associate the metal gold with the colorgold.

很多人都認為金子就應該是金色。

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

但一些黃金首飾的顏色并不是金色，而是白色。

Gold is one of the heaviest and softest metals.

黃金是最重最軟的金屬之一。

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

純金，也就是24k金質(zhì)地非常軟，很容易產(chǎn)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.

在電影中，以前的勘探者通常會咬一咬黃金來看看是否是真金，這是因為你在24k金上會發(fā)現(xiàn)咬痕。

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

然而，在現(xiàn)實世界中，珠寶商并不希望使用那種易產(chǎn)生凹陷的金屬。

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

因此，大多數(shù)金屬實際上是黃金與其他硬金屬鑄成的合金。

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.

由于純金被叫做24k金，那么由黃金和其他金屬各半鑄成的合金就叫做12k金，因為12是24的一半。

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

如果大多數(shù)黃金首飾是合金的話，為什么有的是白色有的是黃色呢?

The final appearance dependson the type of alloy metal used.

珠寶最終的顏色還要取決于所使用合金金屬的類型。

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

用白色金屬，如銀、鈀和鎳制成的合金就是白色的黃金。

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

在合金中融入銅可以恢復成黃色，但是如果加入過多銅就會使黃金變紅。

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.

黃金首飾的顏色并不能說明含金量。一塊白金的含金量可能與一塊黃金的含金量相同。

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

但由于黃金里摻有不同的合金金屬，因此黃金可以呈現(xiàn)出不同的顏色。

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

與白金不同的是，愚人金不含任何黃金。

It's a mineral called iron pyrite.

它其實是一種叫做黃鐵礦的物質(zhì)。

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

黑金也不是黃金，而是石油。

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

黑金同樣很值錢，但是戴在你未婚妻手指上可不那么好看。