Will gold jewelry “turn white” or “red” after being worn for a long time?

Why do gold jewelry turn white (hereinafter referred to as “K gold” and “full gold” collectively as “gold”)?

There are two main reasons:

1、 When gold is worn together with white jewelry such as platinum or silver, due to friction between the jewelry, it is likely that the metal of the white jewelry will be applied to the gold jewelry, or gold will be applied to the white jewelry. This color change only occurs in areas that can be rubbed, and it is on the surface, in the form of scratches.

2、 It is because the whitening of gold jewelry is related to the concentration of Hg in the environment – gold jewelry comes into contact with substances containing Hg and reacts with them to produce white gold mercury compounds. It mainly exists in our lives in liquid and gaseous forms.

Principles of Chemistry:

The wetting ability of gold amalgam on Au is superior to many metals because Hg can selectively wet Au and diffuse into it, while also enriching trace amounts of Hg in the air. As the temperature increases, Hg gradually diffuses towards the deep part of Au to form Au2Hg, and finally forms Au3Hg solid, namely gold amalgam, which is non-toxic.

Among them, the main situations where gold jewelry turns white due to contact with “mercury” include:

1. Mercury is present in the environment.
2. The gold jewelry touched mercury.
3. Cosmetics contain mercury.

In these three situations, the first two are accidental and have a low probability, but the third situation is quite common. So, if you are careful, you will find that the phenomenon of gold jewelry turning white is mostly found in women who love beauty, and rarely in men.

The cosmetics used by most women contain a whitening mercury component, which is mercury (liquid). Gold jewelry absorbs trace amounts of mercury, and over time, the phenomenon of whitening occurs in gold jewelry.