Element Silver
...iscovered. Pure silver has a brilliant white metallic luster. Silver is a little harder than gold and is very malleable and ductile. Of all metals, silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity and possesses the lowest contact resistance. I found out that silver iodide (Ag I), was used for causing clouds to produce rain. Silver is stable in pure air and water, but tarnishes when exposed to ozone, hydrogen sulfide, or air containing sulfur. Silver occurs in ores including argentite, lead, lead-zinc, copper and gold found in Mexico, Peru, and the USA. When it comes to the isolation of silver, it is readily available commercially. It is not normally necessary to prepare silver in the laboratory. The formation of silver metal may be demonstrated in a satisfying reaction in which copper metal is dipped into a solution of silver nitrate, AgNO . Cu (s) + 2 Ag NO (aq) Cu (NO ) + 2 Ag (s) The result is a formation of often-attracted silver crystals and a blue-green solution of copper nitrate. Silver is usually a by-product 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. Sometime around autumn of 1803, the Englishman John Dalton was able to explain the results of some of his studies by assuming that matter is composed of atoms and that all samples of any given compound consist of the same combination of these atoms. Dalton also noted that in series of compounds the ratio of the masses of the second element that combine with a given weight of the first element can be reduced to small whole numbers (the law of multiple proportions). This was further evidence for atoms. Thomas Thomson published Dalton’s theory of atoms in the 3rd edition of his System of Chemistry in 1807 and in a paper about strontium oxalates published in the Philosophical Transactions. Dalton published these ideas himself in the following year in the New System of Chemical Philosophy. I also found through a number of sources, the uses for silver as well as from anecdotal comments. Sterling silver is used for things like jewelry and silverware, where the appearance is paramount. This alloy contains 92.5% silver. The remainder is copper or some other metal. Silver also has uses like dental alloys, solder and brazing alloys, electrical contacts, high capacity silver-zinc and silver cadamium batteries. Silver paints are used for making printed circuits. Silver may be used in mirror production and may be deposited on glass or metals by chemical deposition, electrodeposition, or by evaporation. When freshly deposited, it is the best reflector of visible light known but it rapidly tarnishes and loses much of its reflectance. The iodide is used to seeding clouds to produce rain. The nitrate, (lunar caustic) is used extensively in photography. CHEMICAL REACTIONS OF THE ELEMENTS: ...