Silver 47 Ag 107.8682(2)   Switch element to... actinium aluminium aluminum americium antimony argon arsenic astatine barium berkelium beryllium bismuth bohrium boron bromine cadmium caesium calcium californium carbon cerium cesium chlorine chromium cobalt copper curium darmstadtium dubnium dysprosium einsteinium erbium europium fermium fluorine francium gadolinium gallium germanium gold hafnium hassium helium holmium hydrogen indium iodine iridium iron krypton lanthanum lawrencium lead lithium lutetium magnesium manganese meitnerium mendelevium mercury molybdenum neodymium neon neptunium nickel niobium nitrogen nobelium osmium oxygen palladium phosphorus platinum plutonium polonium potassium praseodymium promethium protactinium radium radon rhenium rhodium roentgenium rubidium ruthenium rutherfordium samarium scandium seaborgium selenium silicon silver sodium strontium sulfur sulphur tantalum technetium tellurium terbium thallium thorium thulium tin titanium tungsten ununbium ununhexium ununoctium ununpentium ununquadium ununtrium uranium vanadium xenon ytterbium yttrium zinc zirconium Go adjacent... Ni Cu Zn Pd Ag Cd Pt Au Hg

The essentials

Description 

Here is a brief description of silver.

• Standard state: solid at 298 K
• Colour: silver
• Classification: Metallic
• Availability:

  silver is available in many forms including crystals, flakes, wire, foil, "evaporation slugs", granule, needles, powder, tube, mesh, bars, nanosized activated powder, rod, shot, and wool. Small and large samples of silver foil, sheet, wire, insulated wire, mesh, rod, tube, and powder (and silver alloys in foil, wire and tube form) can be purchased from Advent Research Materials via their web catalogue.

Silver is somewhat rare and expensive, although not as expensive as gold. Slag dumps in Asia Minor and on islands in the Aegean Sea indicate that man learned to separate silver from lead as early as 3000 B.C. Pure silver has a brilliant white metallic lustre. It is a little harder than gold and is very ductile and malleable. Pure silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of all metals, and possesses the lowest contact resistance. Silver iodide, AgI, is (or was?) used for causing clouds to produce rain.

Silver is stable in pure air and water, but tarnishes when exposed to ozone, hydrogen sulphide, or air containing sulphur. It occurs in ores including argentite, lead, lead-zinc, copper and gold found in Mexico, Peru, and the USA.

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The picture above shows the result of setting off a mixture of magnesium metal with solid silver nitrate with water! Do not attempt this reaction unless are a professionally qualified chemist and you have carried out a legally satisfactory hazard assessment. Select a movie icon to see the result of setting off a mixture of magnesium metal and solid silver nitrate with water!

Nearing Zero cartoon included by kind permission of Nick Kim.

Isolation

Silver is readily available commercially so it is not normally necessary to prepare silver in the laboratory. However the formation of silver metal may be demonstrated in a satisfying reaction in which copper metal is dipped into a solution of silver nitrate, AgNO₃.

Cu(s) + 2 AgNO₃ (aq) → Cu(NO₃)₂ + 2 Ag (s)

The result is formation of often attractive silver crystals and a blue-green solution of copper nitrate. Industrially, silver is usually a byproduct of processes whose main object is the extraction of another metal such as copper, lead, and zinc. So called "anode slimes" from the electrolytic purification of copper contain silver and a somewhat involved process is finished by an electrolysis of a nitrate solution containing silver.

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