# how to calculate the percentage of alloy in a 14k gold bar

#### ben001

##### New member
if I purchase a 100oz pure gold bar and I want to turn all of it into a 14k gold bar, what percentage of other alloys do I melt together?

I have gathered that a 14k gold bar is comprised of

58.3% fine gold
23% copper
11% nickel
7.7% zinc

also could someone tell me by weight as well as percentage of metal?

this isn't a homework problem im really trying to figure this out so I can make a gold chain as a hobby. I would really appreciate if someone could help me out.

#### Otis

##### Senior Member
Hello ben001.

The first question is: How much alloy contains 100 oz of fine gold, if the gold represents 58.3% of the alloy?

58.3% means $$\frac{58.3}{100}$$ and that's 0.583

Let symbol x represent the ounces of alloy. Then 58.3% of x equals 100 and we can write:

0.583x = 100

To solve for x, we divide each side of that equation by 0.583

x = 100/0.583 and that's 171.5266

You can make about 171.53 ounces of 14k alloy using 100 ounces of fine gold.

To find the weights of the remaining metals, multiply the total ounces of alloy by the corresponding percents.

Copper: (0.23)(171.5266) = 39.4511

Nickel: (0.11)(171.5266) = 18.8679

Zinc: (0.077)(171.5266) = 13.2075

171.53 ounces of 14k gold alloy contains about

100 ounces of fine gold​
39.45 ounces of copper​
18.87 ounces of nickel​
13.21 ounces of zinc​

Cheers

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#### Denis

##### Senior Member
You AU'd that one Otis!