1
00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:03,880
Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff from how stuff works dot com where

2
00:00:03,920 --> 00:00:10,440
Speaker 1: smart Happens. Hi. I'm Marshall Brain with today's question, what

3
00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:13,720
Speaker 1: is a carrot and what is the difference between a

4
00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:17,639
Speaker 1: carrot spelled with a C that's used with diamonds and

5
00:00:17,720 --> 00:00:21,000
Speaker 1: a carrot spelled with a K that's used with gold.

6
00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,799
Speaker 1: A carrot spelled with a C is a unit of

7
00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:29,360
Speaker 1: weight for diamonds and other gemstones. One carrot equals two

8
00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,760
Speaker 1: hundred milligrams, about a fifth of a gram. There are

9
00:00:32,800 --> 00:00:35,879
Speaker 1: four hundred fifty three grams in a pound, so if

10
00:00:35,880 --> 00:00:38,440
Speaker 1: you had a one pound diamond, it would be a

11
00:00:38,479 --> 00:00:43,360
Speaker 1: two thousand, two hundred sixty carrot diamond. A carrot, when

12
00:00:43,479 --> 00:00:46,960
Speaker 1: used with gold spelled with a K, is a unit

13
00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:51,599
Speaker 1: of purity. Four carrot Gold is pure gold, but usually

14
00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:54,360
Speaker 1: you mix gold with a metal like copper or silver

15
00:00:54,440 --> 00:00:57,560
Speaker 1: when you make jewelry because pure gold is too soft

16
00:00:57,560 --> 00:01:02,600
Speaker 1: and it's also really expensive. Each carrot indicates one four

17
00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,679
Speaker 1: of the whole. So if a piece of jewelry is

18
00:01:05,760 --> 00:01:08,640
Speaker 1: made of metal that is eighteen parts gold and six

19
00:01:08,680 --> 00:01:13,280
Speaker 1: parts copper, that's eighteen carrot gold. Where did such a

20
00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:16,640
Speaker 1: funny unit of purity come from? It turns out that

21
00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:20,679
Speaker 1: a German cold coin called a mark was common about

22
00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:24,680
Speaker 1: a thousand years ago. It happened away twenty four carrots

23
00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:28,240
Speaker 1: or four point eight grams. The purity of gold in

24
00:01:28,280 --> 00:01:32,039
Speaker 1: the coin was expressed in the number of carrots of

25
00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:35,480
Speaker 1: gold spelled with a C in this case present in

26
00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:39,840
Speaker 1: the twenty four carrot coin. So the two words carrot

27
00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,360
Speaker 1: and carrot are actually related through this process about a

28
00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:48,320
Speaker 1: thousand years old. Do you have any ideas or suggestions

29
00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,279
Speaker 1: for this podcast? If so, please send me an email

30
00:01:51,320 --> 00:01:54,520
Speaker 1: at podcast at how stuff works dot com. For more

31
00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:56,760
Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics, go to how

32
00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,320
Speaker 1: stuff works dot com.