ts]. Here's the long and short of the jargon we hear tossed around as if everybody, but everybody grew up in the jewelry trade.Carat: A unit of weight used to measure gemstones. There are 5 carats in a gram, so a 15 ct gemstone will weigh 3 grams. A 6.5mm round diamond generally weighs one carat. Other gemstones of the same size will vary slightly in weight due to variations in their specific gravities.
Karat: A unit of measure that indicates the purity of gold. Gold is a soft metal, so pure gold (refered to as 24K gold) is generally not durable enough for use in jewelry. The lower the karat rating, the more other metals (alloy) have been been added and the lower the percentage of pure gold. Here's how it works:
18K = 18 parts gold; 6 parts of alloy (75% gold)
14K = 14 parts gold; 10 parts of alloy (58% gold)
Carrot: That would be those yellow veggies we munch on when we're dieting, toss into stew in the winter, and give our kids when what they really want is a chocolate chip cookie.
Happy hunting.
Terri
