Pouring acid on pearls to see if they're real

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]- So I bought these pearls. - Okay.

[00:00:02]For a really, really good price.

[00:00:04]And I want to know if it's real or fake.

[00:00:06]- And there's a way to test it. - Okay.

[00:00:08]So I looked online and apparently real pearls, they're made out of calcium carbonate.

[00:00:12]- Oh, so they're just like chalk. - Yeah.

[00:00:15]Hmm.

[00:00:16]So acids should be able to dissolve that, right?

[00:00:19]Yeah I mean, if it's just calcium carbonate, I feel like just, - yeah, hydrochloric should be fine. - Yeah.

[00:00:24]It's also the easiest to use and the cheapest.

[00:00:26]Okay, I'll do that. I'll be back.

[00:00:27]Okay.

[00:00:28]Okay, so I got everything.

[00:00:31]Now, we will pour them all out.

[00:00:35]Which one do we sacrifice?

[00:00:37]Nah, okay nah, this one's the ugliest.

[00:00:39]So, this is the one we'll sacrifice.

[00:00:42]It looks like a pearl... Okay, that's good.

[00:00:47]Now the moment of truth.

[00:00:50]Oh, that's interesting.

[00:00:53]Okay so I mean, it's bubbling.

[00:00:55]It tells you it's reacting.

[00:00:56]Nice.

[00:00:57]Does that mean that it's a real pearl?

[00:00:59]It's not plastic.

[00:01:00]Plastic wouldn't do this.

[00:01:01]And it reacts with acid in a way that looks exactly like it's - calcium carbonate or something. - Yeah.

[00:01:06]So I think that, I think that's pretty good evidence that it is a pearl.

[00:01:10]So I have real pearls here?

[00:01:11]I wouldn't go... I'm not gonna confirm.

[00:01:14]I'll say you probably have real pearls.

[00:01:16]But to know for sure, we have to test them all.

[00:01:18]No, forget it!

[00:01:19]We'll have to know whether you had real pearls.