Karat
Karat is a unit of purity for a precious metal (e.g. gold) in one piece of jewelry. Carat is a unit of weight used for gemstones and should not be confused with karat. Pure gold (24 karats) is, however, not hard enough to be used for jewelry, this is why jewelry is made of gold alloys. When gold is alloyed the content of pure gold is lower. A piece of jewelry with 18 karats consists of 18/24 parts gold (75% gold).
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Gold