Paula King, age 10, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for her question:

Where do they mine white fold?

White gold is a mixture, or alloy, of two or more metals. Some of the alloys are harder and shinier than others. The best white gold looks like expensive platinum and jewelers use it to make settings for precious gems. This top quality white gold is mined in Russia and South Africa. Smaller amounts are mined in California, Nevada and Oregon. As a rule, they find it in sandy deposits, along with traces of platinum, ordinary yellow gold and several other rare, precious metals.

All the recipes for white gold look like silvery platinum, but only the best kinds contain any real platinum. In the less expensive kinds, the main ingredient is ordinary yellow gold, which makes up about three quarters of the recipe. The other metals may be nickel and zinc. When these ingredients are melted together they form a silvery colored alloy. Pure gold is a rather soft metal and pure gold jewelry does not wear very well. But a alloy of white gold is much harder and more durable. Most of it is used to make jewelry.