You can also fill a cup or glass with white vinegar, and drop your gold in it, let it soak for 5-8 minutes, take it out and rinse with water. If the metal has changed its color even slightly, then the gold is not pure but if it keeps shining, then the gold is pure.
How to Do the Float Test to Check If Gold is Real. Fill a cup or bowl with water and carefully drop your gold piece into it. If the gold is real, it will sink to the bottom of the cup. If it's fake, it will float to the top or hover in the middle of the cup.
A float test using water is the easiest and safest way to tell if your gold is real at home. Start the process by taking a glass and filling it with water. Drop the gold accessory you want to test in the filled glass. If your gold piece sinks to the bottom of the glass, it is real.
The Float Test
Place your gold piece into the water. If it's genuine gold, then it will immediately sink to the bottom of the cup. Pure gold is heavy due to its high density – 19.32 g/ ml. If your gold item floats or hovers above the cup's bottom – it's fake or plated gold.
Take a cup or glass, fill it up with water, now bring the gold that you want to test. Drop it into this filled glass. If the gold floats, it is surely not real but if the gold sinks to the end of the glass then it is pure gold. The real gold will sink due to being a heavy metal.
What to do: Hold the magnet up to the gold. If it's real gold it will not stick to the magnet. (Fun fact: Real gold is not magnetic.) Fake gold, on the other hand, will stick to the magnet.
If your gold piece turns black or green when the vinegar is on it, or if it starts to smoke or fizzle at all when the vinegar touches it, it is most likely not real gold. If your gold piece does not change colors and does not fizzle or react to the vinegar in any way, it is probably real.
The apple cider vinegar gold test is a great choice if you want to test your jewelry at home, as it is readily available and easy to do. After all, real gold will not react when exposed to the acids in vinegar, toothpaste and more.
Drop a small amount of liquid nitric acid on that scratch and wait for a chemical reaction. Fake gold will immediately turn green where the acid is. Gold-over-sterling silver will become milky in appearance. Gold will not react to the nitric acid.
Heat your gold jewelry with the lighter.
Fake gold will get darker, while pure gold will do the opposite: it will get brighter the hotter it gets. The brighter your jewelry gets, you can rest assured you have real gold.
Gold is classified as a heavy metal despite its softness and malleability because each of its atoms is heavy on its own. It is a dense material.
Make a small scratch on the gold and add a drop of bleach. If it changes color, your jewelry is not 100% pure 24K gold. Bleach can permanently damage gold jewelry. It can't tell you if your gold is fake, since most gold jewelry has other metals mixed in to give it strength.
Step 1: Bite Down On It
If it's real gold, your teeth will form small dents in the metal. Fake gold won't dent at all on a bite test! Now, before you chip a tooth, remember that gold is a soft metal so there's no need to bite down very hard.
Lemon Juice
Lemon is naturally acidic, which helps remove the oxide layer on the jewelry easily. Mix equal parts of water and lemon juice. Soak the jewelry in this solution for 10 to 15 minutes. Gently scrub the jewelry with a rough cloth or toothbrush.
Drop the Item in Water
Real gold is a heavy metal and will not float, so if your gold item floats you know it is not real gold. Also, if you notice rust or tarnishing on the item after being in water, this is also a sign it is not real gold since gold doesn't rust or tarnish.
A: Yes, you can use apple cider vinegar to clean jewelry. First, pour 1 cup of apple cider vinegar into a cup. Then, place your gold jewelry in a small bowl with the homemade jewelry cleaner for approximately 20 minutes.