Beginning of Essay
On Gold What's so special about this gold stuff, anyway? I mean, it's expensive because it's rare but why do we use it in jewellery? Gold has a couple of fairly unique properties that have made it attractive to jewellers throughout history. Prime among these is it ....

Middle of Essay
.... opened and closed without special tools and without growing brittle and/or breaking as is the case with most harder alloys. The disadvantages are clear. The price is high and in its pure form it's so soft it wears quickly from the purely mechanic rubbing of your skin and of other jewellery. The common solution, however, is not without its flaws. "Cutting" the gold with cheaper metals can mean dramatic savings in material cost and highly improved resistance to wear but we must remember that it also changes the other special property of gold - its resistance to corrosion. Some chemicals in more-or-less popular use in body-piercing circles (Be ....