hardness of metals

On one site on the net, I've found informations about hardness of metals.
And it says that 14 K gold is about 2,5 times harder than sterling silver.
Does that mean that a 14 K gold, 5 gram chain has the same hardness
(strenght), as 12-13 gram sterling silver one, of the same design and other
characteristics?

On Mon, 06 Oct 2003 07:59:13 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry "m4816k"
wrote:

On one site on the net, I've found informations about hardness of metals.
And it says that 14 K gold is about 2,5 times harder than sterling silver.
Does that mean that a 14 K gold, 5 gram chain has the same hardness
(strenght), as 12-13 gram sterling silver one, of the same design and other
characteristics?


No, for several reasons.

First, hardness is not the same as strength. It refers only to how much the
metal resists being scratched and dented and bent, not to how easily it might
wear away, or be broken. for example, platinum is easier to scratch than 14K
gold, and is thus, sufter. But of two similar chains, one in gold and one in
platinum, the platinum one will last many times longer and be a lot stronger.
Sterling silver is not as hard as 14K gold, and a silver chain will wear away
more quickly than a gold one. Buit not as fast as your math would suggest.

Also, the strength of the chain is based on the thickness of the wire it's made
from. The same thickness of wire in gold, will weigh more than that wire in
silver, since the two metals have different densities. So if you are going to
compare the strength of two chains in different materials, do it based on the
thickness of the wire they are made from, not the weights of the chains. You
could, with some more math, adjust your figures to compensate for the different
densities of the two materials, but as I note above, it's still the wrong
calculation, since the hardness is not what determines the strength, or
resistance to breaking. In fact, it doesn't even totally reflect how fast it
will wear. Only how easy it is to bend or scratch with other materials.


Peter