Which is better, White Gold or Platinum?

Platinum and white gold look similar when it comes to jewellery. Jewellery, made out of both white gold and platinum, gives you stunning and stylish look without any doubt. Even though white gold and platinum looks similar physically, they are basically different in all its chemical properties. That is why you need to go for a closer analysis in order to pick the right one from white gold and platinum. Here are a few facts you need to know about the properties of white gold and platinum.

What is platinum?

• Platinum is an element with symbol Pt
• It is an industrial commodity and used in jewellery and laboratory purposes
• It has a greyish white colour
• It is pretty expensive

Platinum is a naturally occurring, rare, whitish element that is highly reactive. It is used in a number of industrial purposes. However, the fame of platinum is because of the beautifully made jewelleries made with the metal. Jewellery made out of platinum has the most luminescent white hue among all kinds of metal jewelleries. 

Platinum is hard and malleable when compared to gold. Because of the hardness of the metal, it is difficult to bend or reshape it. Ornaments made out of platinum are vulnerable to scratches and denting. Platinum jewellery is pretty expensive than gold. The sparkle of platinum jewelleries will not last long and it needs to be polished. However, platinum is more pure and better quality metal than gold.

What is white gold?

• It is an alloy of gold and palladium or silver
• It is plated with rhodium to give white tint
• It is made out of element gold with symbol Au

The colour of white gold is artificially made by mixing pure gold with silver or palladium. The jewellery is plated with rhodium to give it a whitish shining look. The properties of white gold and yellow gold are almost same, and the colour makes the main difference.

White gold jewellery is cheaper when compared to platinum, given to the availability of gold metal which make its basic content.  Eventually the white gold jewellery will lose its shining look, and you may need to polish it with rhodium often.

The price factor keeps the white gold and platinum wide apart. The price of platinum jewellery may be thrice higher than white gold. It will be difficult to reach a one word answer to the question which is better among white gold and platinum, as both have its cons and pros.