Silver

Background

Silver was one of the earliest metals known to humans, and it has been considered a precious metal since ancient times. Silver has been used as a form of currency by more people throughout history than any other metal, even gold. Although it is usually found in ores with less rare metals, such as copper, lead, and zinc, silver was apparently discovered in nugget form, called native silver, about 4000 b.c. Silver utensils and ornaments have been found in ancient tombs of Chaldea, Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Persia, and Greece. In more recent times, the principal uses for silver were coinage and silverware.

In 1993, worldwide production of silver from mines totaled 548.2 million ounces (15.5 billion grams). During that year, Mexico was the world's largest producer of silver, with a total production of 75.7 million ounces (2.1 billion grams). The United States was the second leading producer, followed by Canada, Australia, Spain, Peru, and Russia. The vast majority of the world's silver is used in industrial applications, and the United States is the leading consumer. Other top consumers include Japan, India, and eastern European countries.

Silver mining in North America dates back to the eighteenth century. Around 1800, production began in the United States on the east coast and then moved west. The mining of silver was instrumental in the settlement of the state of Nevada. In 1994, Nevada was the largest producer of silver in the United States; Nevada mines produced 22.8 million troy ounces (709 million grams) of silver. Arizona, California, and Nevada are known for large-tonnage, low-grade silver deposits.

Physical Characteristics and Uses of Silver

Silver is the whitest metallic element. It is rare, strong, corrosion resistant, and unaffected by moisture, vegetable acids, or alkalis. Silver is also resonant, moldable, malleable, and possesses the highest thermal and electric conductivity of any substance. The chemical symbol for silver is Ag, from the Latin argentum, which means white and shining. Although silver does not react to many chemicals, it does react with sulfur, which is always present in the air, even in trace amounts. The reaction causes silver to tarnish, therefore, it must be polished periodically to retain its luster.

Silver possesses many special physical characteristics and qualities that make it useful in a variety of industries. The photography industry is the biggest user of silver compounds. Silver forms the most light-sensitive salts, or halides, which are essential to developing high-quality photography. Silver has the highest electrical conductivity per unit volume of any metal, including copper, so it is used extensively in electronics. Specialized uses include switch and relay contacts for automobile controls and accessories, automotive window heating, and in electrodes for electrocardiograms.

Silver is one of the strongest oxidants, making it an essential catalyst for the chemical process industry. It is used in the production of adhesives, dinnerware, mylar recording tape, and many other products. Silver is the most reflective of all metals, and is used to coat glass in mirrors. It is also used in x-ray vacuum tubes and as material for bearings. With the highest level of thermal conductivity among metals and resistance to combustion and sparks, silver is a valuable material for a range of other industrial processes. The most common consumer application of silver is its use in jewelry. Pure silver, which would be too soft to be durable, is mixed with 5-20% copper in an alloy known as sterling silver.

Today, a very small percentage of the world's silver is used in coinage, though silver coins were a popular form of currency until the recent past. As industrialized nations began to produce large numbers of silver coins in the twentieth century, silver became less available, and therefore more expensive. The United States Treasury, which until then had been minting 90% silver coins, changed their minting by a 1965 act of Congress. The Johnson Silver Coinage Act completely demonetized silver, and with the exception of bicentennial coins, all newly-minted United States coins are now made of an alloy of copper and nickel.

The Manufacturing
Process

Silver was first obtained in sixteenth-century Mexico by a method called the patio process. It involved mixing silver ore, salt, copper sulphide, and water. The resultant silver chloride was then picked up by adding mercury. This inefficient method was superseded by the von Patera process. In this process, ore was heated with rock salt, producing silver chloride, which was leached out with sodium hyposulfite. Today, there are several processes used to extract silver from ores.

A method called the cyanide, or heap leach, process has gained acceptance within the mining industry because it is a low-cost way of processing lower-grade silver ores. However, the ores used in this method must have certain characteristics: the silver particles must be small; the silver must react with cyanide solutions; the silver ores must be relatively free of other mineral contaminants and/or foreign substances that might interfere with the cyanidation process; and the silver must be free from sulfide minerals. The idea for cyanidation actually dates back to the eighteenth century, when Spanish miners percolated acid solutions through large heaps of copper oxide ore. The process developed into its present form during the late nineteenth century. The cyanide process is described here.

Preparing the ore

• 1 Silver ore is crushed into pieces, usually with 1-1.5 in (2.5-3.75 cm) diameters, to make the material porous. Approximately 3-5 lb (1.4-2.3 kg) of lime per ton of silver ore is added to create an alkaline environment. The ore must be completely oxidized so the precious metal is not confined in sulfide minerals. Where fines or clays exist, the ore is agglomerated to create a uniform leach pile. This process consists of crushing the ore, adding cement, mixing, adding water or a cyanide solution, and curing in dry air for 24-48 hours.
• 2 Broken or crushed ore is stacked on impermeable pads to eliminate the loss of the silver cyanide solution. Pad material may be asphalt, plastic, rubber sheeting, and/or clays. These pads are sloped in two directions to facilitate drainage and the collection of the solutions.

Adding the cyanide solution and curing

• 3 A solution of water and sodium cyanide is added to the ore. Solutions are delivered to the heaps by sprinkler systems or methods of ponding, including ditches, injection, or seepage from capillaries.

Recovering the silver

• 4 Silver is recovered from heap leach solutions in one of several ways. Most common is Merrill-Crowe precipitation, which uses fine zinc dust to precipitate the precious metal from the solution. The silver precipitate is then filtered off, melted, and made into bullion bars.
• 5 Other methods of recovery are activated carbon absorption, where solutions are pumped through tanks or towers containing activated carbon, and the addition of a sodium sulfide solution, which forms a silver precipitate. In another method, the solution is passed through charged resin materials which attract the silver. The recovery method is generally decided based on economic factors.

Silver is rarely found alone, but mostly in ores which also contain lead, copper, gold, and other metals which may be commercially valuable. Silver emerges as a byproduct of processing these metals. To recover silver from zinc-bearing ores, the Parkes process is used. In this method, the ore is heated until it becomes molten. As the mixture of metals is allowed to cool, a crust of zinc and silver forms on the surface. The crust is removed, and the metals undergo a distillation process to remove the zinc from the silver.

To extract silver from copper-containing ores, an electrolytic refining process is used. The ore is placed in an electrolytic cell, which contains a positive electrode, or anode, and a negative electrode, or cathode, in an electrolyte solution. When electricity is passed through the solution, silver, with other metals, accumulates as a slime at the anode while copper is deposited on the cathode. The slimes are collected, then roasted, leached, and smelted to remove impurities. The metals are formed into blocks which are used as anodes in another round of electrolysis. As electricity is sent through a solution of silver nitrate, pure silver is deposited onto the cathode.

The Future

How much silver will be produced in the future depends on many factors, including the rate of production of other metals and future uses of silver. Industrial demand for silver appears to be steady overall. Because silver naturally occurs with other metals, future production is linked to the production of copper, lead, gold, and zinc.

In the future, silver will likely continue to be used for special industrial applications, as well as for consumer items, such as jewelry and silverware. In addition to these traditional uses, the value of silver will also depend on new uses for the metal. For example, using silver as a sanitizing agent is currently under development. Manufacturers have hustled in response to studies by the Atlanta-based Center for Disease Control that many viruses, including those linked to Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), will survive briefly outside an individual in fluids deposited on surfaces of plastic products, such as telephones. Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. in Osaka, Japan, completed a project at the Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, to produce a surface treatment that provides long-lasting sanitization for its plastic products. Research revealed the most effective system to be a compound based on silver thiosulfate.

Currently marketed under the name Amenitop, the system consists of silica gel microspheres that contain a silver thiosulfate complex. The silica gel coating allows a gradual release of the silver compound onto the surface, which provides long-lasting sanitization. Studies suggest that Amenitop kills bacteria and viruses by destroying the cell's membranes.

Where to Learn More

Books

Coombs, Charles. Gold and Other Precious Metals. William Morrow and Company, 1981.

Robbins, Peter and Douglass Lee. Guide to Precious Metals and Their Markets. Nichols Publishing, 1979.

Smith, Jerome F. and Barbara Kelly Smith. What's Behind the New Boom In Silver and How to Maximize Your Profits. Griffin Publishing Company, 1983.

Periodicals

"A Listing of the End Users of Silver By Property." The Silver Institute, January 13, 1994, pp. 1-14.

"A Nevada Leader." News from Las Vegas (Las Vegas News Bureau), March 1995, p. 1.

"New Silver Compound To Fight Spread of Viruses." The Silver Institute Letter, December 1994-January 1995, pp. 1, 2,4.

Thorstad, Linda E. "How Heap Leaching Changed The West." World Investment News, February 1987, pp. 31, 33.

—SusanBardHall

Silver

melting point: 961°C
boiling point: 2,212°C
density: 10.53 g/cm³
most common ions: Ag⁺, Ag²⁺

Silver is a precious metal and (like gold and copper) is classified as a coinage metal. The date of its discovery is not known, but it has been identified in jewelry, coins, and religious ornaments dating to more than 2,000 years ago from ancient civilizations in South America, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China.

Silver exists as two isotopes , ¹⁰⁷Ag and ¹⁰⁹Ag, occurring in similar proportions. It exhibits three valance/oxidation states: Ag(I), Ag(II), and Ag(III). The chemistry of silver was not well-known before 1980, although silver nitrate was used medicinally in the 1800s. Recent research has recognized the highly reactive nature of the silver ion and its ability to form numerous inorganic and organic complexes (halide, sulfide, nitrate, oxide, and acetylide compounds, cyano-derivatives, olefin complexes, etc.). Ag(II) complexes are less stable than those of Ag(I) and Ag(III), but unlike many other silver compounds are brightly colored red or blue. Silver ion binds readily to proteins in the human body (including albumins and metallothioneins ) and interacts with trace metals in metabolic pathways.

Silver is the sixty-third most abundant metal in Earth's crust; the average concentration of silver in water is 0.5 ppb, in soil it is 10 ppb. It is found naturally as native metal or in ores in which it is complexed with lead, copper, tellurium, mercury, arsenic , or antimony. Silver is found mainly throughout the Americas, Japan, Australia, and central Europe. Extraction is by amalgamation and displacement (using mercury), solution, or smelting methods.

Silver is used in the manufacture of photographic film chemicals such as silver nitrate, as an analytic reagent in organic chemistry, as a catalyst in photo-oxidation reactions, in electrochemical reactions, in nuclear magnetic resonance and analyses, and in silver plating.

Medically, silver is used in the manufacture of bone prostheses, cardiac implants and replacement valves, needles used in ocular surgery, peritoneal catheters, and wound sutures. It is an antiseptic ingredient used in wound management (silver nitrate, siler sulfadiazine, and cerium nitrate). A new generation of sustained silver release products is showing promise in the treatment of skin wounds, skin ulcers, and burns; silver ion is released from the dressings (Acticoat™, Actisorb™, etc.) in the presence of wound fluids, exudates, and is "activated." Activated silver ion is toxic to bacteria and yeasts. Silver is used in the making of dental amalgam fillings. Silver exhibits widespectrum antibacterial activity; it is toxic to bacteria at low concentrations (10⁻⁵ to 10⁻⁷ Ag ions per cell), the so-called oligodynamic effect.

Silver is toxic. Silver nitrate used in antiseptic mouthwashes leads to deposits of silver sulfide in the skin and a slate-gray skin discoloration (known as argyria); argyria is also caused by the colloidal silver used in antiseptics and mouthwashes. Silver absorbed through the skin is deposited in the liver and kidney and complexes with albumin and cellular proteins. Another silver hazard is allergy to silver, occurring as a result of the silver that is used in jewelry, medicinal products, coins, and antiseptics.

Alan B. G. Lansdown

Bibliography

Buckley, W. R.; Oster, C. F.; and Fassett, D. W. (1965). "Localised Argyria: Chemical Nature of the Silver Containing Granules." Archives of Dermatology 92: 697–705.

Lansdown, Alan B. G. (2002). "Silver," Parts 1 and 2. Journal of Wound Care 10: 125–130; 173–177.

Lansdown, Alan B. G.; Myers, S. R.; Clarke, J. A.; et al. (2003). "A Reappraisal of the Role of Cerium in Burn Wound Management." Journal of Wound Care, 12/3: 113–118.

Lowbury, Edmund J. L. (1992). "Special Problems in Hospital Antisepsis." In Principles and Practice of Disinfection, Preservation and Sterilisation, ed. A. D. Russell, W.B. Hugo, and G. A. G. Aycliffe. London: Blackwell Scientific Publications.

Mietzner, S.; Schwille, R. C.; Farley, A.; et al. (1997). "Efficiency of Thermal Treatment and Copper Silver Ionization for Control of Legionnella pneumophila in High Volume Hot Water Plumbing Systems in Hospitals." American Journal of Infection Control 25: 452–457.

Patai, Paul, and Rappaport, Zvi, eds. (1999). The Chemistry of Organic Derivatives of Gold and Silver. Chichester, UK: Wiley.

Thompson, N. R. (1973). "Silver." In Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry, ed. J. C. Bailar; H. J. Emelius; R. Nyholm; et al. London: Pergamon Press.

sil·ver / ˈsilvər/ • n. 1. a precious shiny grayish-white metal, the chemical element of atomic number 47. (Symbol: Ag) 2. a shiny gray-white color or appearance like that of silver: the dark hair was now highlighted with silver. 3. silver dishes, containers, or cutlery: thieves stole $5,000 worth of silver the family silver. ∎  household cutlery of any material: it is important to wash table silver in hot soapy water immediately after each meal. 4. coins made from silver or from a metal that resembles silver. ∎ chiefly Scot. money. 5. short for silver medal. • adj. made wholly or chiefly of silver: silver jewelry. ∎  colored like silver: a silver Mercedes. ∎  denoting a twenty-fifth anniversary. • v. [tr.] [often as adj.] (silvered) coat or plate with silver: large silvered candlesticks. ∎  provide (mirror glass) with a backing of a silver-colored material in order to make it reflective. ∎ poetic/lit. (esp. of the moon) give a silvery appearance to: the brilliant moon silvered the turf. ∎  turn (a person's hair) gray or white. ∎  [intr.] (of a person's hair) turn gray or white. PHRASES: be born with a silver spoon in one's mouth be born into a wealthy family of high social standing. the silver screen the movie industry; movies collectively: stars of the silver screen.

silver Mentioned frequently in the Bible; Joseph in Egypt had a silver cup (Gen. 44: 2); silver was used for articles needed in the Temple (Neh. 7: 71), for the purchase of goods (Josh. 24: 32), and for decorating idols (Isa. 2: 20). In the NT silver is either mentioned bitterly, as the thirty pieces awarded to Judas for betraying Jesus, or in deprecation as a corrupting influence (Jas. 5: 3) or as an unnecessary luxury (Matt. 10: 9).

silver Not of interest in foods apart from its use in covering non‐pareils, the silver beads used to decorate confectionery. Present in traces in all plant and animal tissues but not known to be a dietary essential, and has no known function, nor is enough ever absorbed to cause toxicity. See also oligodynamic.

silver OE. siolfor, seolfor = OS. silubar, silobar, (Du. zilver), OHG. sil(a)bar, silbir (G. silber), ON. silfr. Goth. silubr; Gmc. *silubr-, rel. indeter- minately to various Balto-Sl. forms, perh. all ult. of Oriental orig.

Silver ♀, ♂ From the name of the precious metal (Old English siolfor). It is sometimes given to babies born with very fair hair. It is also occasionally used as a pet form of the names Silvestra and Silvester.

SILVER

SILVER. SeeMetalwork .

silver, see metalwork.

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