You will distinctly see the gold looks like gold and the pyrite does not.
What does real gold flakes look like.
Fool s gold can be mistaken for placer gold gold found as rounded or flat nuggets in dry and wet stream beds and rivers or creeks because they both look golden.
The edges will look sharp and it may separate in layers.
If you do have real gold be careful with this test.
In fact the piece with gold colored particles inside may even be lighter than your other piece of quartz if the gold is not real.
Gold will look either rounded or sometimes flat.
If you look closely you will also notice that the large rock that the gold ring gold nugget and gold rock are sitting on has very sharp fractured and angular shape.
Get a piece of copper and try to scratch the copper with the gold.
Real gold weighs about 1 5 times more than fool s gold or iron pyrite.
What does natural raw gold look like in rocks.
If the grains are large enuf to see with a good.
Real gold in nature can come in many different forms not just as gold nuggets.
Fool s gold scratches glass whereas real gold does not.
If it scratches it s pyrite.
Most specimens of pyrite found in nature will have at least some tarnish on their surface.
Real gold also leaves a gold streak when scratched against a small bit of unglazed ceramic like the back of a piece of bathroom tile but iron pyrite leaves a greenish black colored streak.
Fool s gold and other minerals that look like gold will not produce a weight difference between the pieces of quartz.
What does gold ore really look like.
In this video you will learn about gold bearing rock identification.
Most people have no idea what to look for and even if they do find gold they might throw it out accidentally.
Iron pyrite is attracted to magnets but real gold is not magnetic.
Nuggets or small flakes of gold are usually bright and untarnished.
Pyrite is harder than copper.
Gold shines at any angle not just when the light is right.
Gold has a golden to yellow color.
But real gold stays bright even when out of direct sunlight and though soft does not fall apart when you touch it like fool s gold can.
However just because it looks like gold and is in the same place as gold doesn t mean that it s gold.
I am using a light source to show the difference between gold which shines and pyrite which sparkles.
Pyrite has a brassy color.
Most native gold is alloyed with silver and if the silver content is high enough the specimen will have a whitish yellow color.
It can also be crystalline mixed with quartz fine flakes and dust.
