When you’re shopping for jewelry you’ll often hear the words “carat” and “karat” tossed around, and it may seem like they’re interchangeable. But if you pay attention you’ll see that one type of carat – spelled with a C – refers to the weight of diamonds and other gemstones, while the other type – spelled with a K – refers to the purity of gold.
Diamonds and other gemstones are weighed in metric carats: one carat is equal to 0.2 grams, about the same weight as a paperclip. Just as a dollar is divided into 100 pennies, a carat is divided into 100 points. For example, a 50-point diamond weighs 0.50 carats. But two diamonds of equal carat weight can have very different values depending on the other members of the Four C’s: Clarity, Color, and Cut. The majority of diamonds used in fine jewelry weigh one carat or less.
The karat, on the other hand, is a measure of the purity of gold alloys. Karat value of gold (or platinum) is determined using the following formula: the mass of pure gold or platinum in the material divided by the total mass, then multiplied by 24. Therefore 24-karat gold is fine (99.9%), 18-karat gold is 75% gold, 12-karat gold is 50% gold, and so forth. This is why the higher the karat value, the more yellow the gold looks. When you buy a piece gold jewelry, the karat value is usually stamped somewhere on it.
The word “karat” comes from the Greek kerátion, “fruit of the carob,” as carob seeds were originally used as weights on precision scales because they were thought (wrongly) to have a uniform weight. In the past, different countries each had their own karat, roughly equivalent to a carob seed. In the mid-16th century, the karat was adopted as a measure of gold purity.
As for carrots… well, those are probably in your refrigerator right now, and including them in your diet will help ensure you have sharp enough eyes to enjoy the brilliance of your carats and karats!
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