The Versatile and Precious Silver: Properties and Uses
.png)
Silver, a chemical element symbolized by Ag and having an atomic number of 47, is a transition metal that is soft, white, and has a shining appearance.
Out of all the metals, it boasts the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity.
This metal can be found in its pure form in the Earth's crust and as an alloy with gold and other metals, or in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite.
The majority of silver production is derived as a byproduct from refining copper, gold, lead, and zinc.
Silver has long been considered a valuable metal, used in bullion coins alongside gold.
Although it is more abundant than gold, it is rarer as a native metal. Its purity is often measured on a per-mille basis, with a 94% pure alloy referred to as "0.940 fine".
As one of the seven metals of antiquity, silver has played a significant role in various cultures throughout history.
Aside from serving as currency or an investment medium, silver has a multitude of uses, including in solar panels, water filtration, jewelry, ornaments, high-end tableware and utensils, electrical contacts and conductors, specialized mirrors and window coatings, catalyzing chemical reactions, adding color to stained glass, and in specialized confectionery. Its compounds are utilized in photographic and X-ray film, and dilute solutions of silver nitrate and other silver compounds are used as disinfectants and bactericides in medical applications, such as bandages, wound-dressings, catheters, and other instruments.
Silver is similar in physical and chemical properties to copper and gold, its neighboring elements in group 11 of the periodic table. Its electron arrangement, 4d105s1, is consistent with copper and gold. Unlike metals with incomplete d-shells, the metallic bonds in silver are weak and lack a covalent character.
This accounts for the metal's low hardness and high ductility. Silver has a white, metallic shine that can be highly polished and has become a color name due to its distinctive appearance.
When protected, silver has a higher optical reflectivity than aluminum at wavelengths longer than 450 nm, but its reflectivity decreases to zero near 310 nm at shorter wavelengths.
The high electrical and thermal conductivity of silver and its neighboring elements in group 11 is attributed to the freedom of their single s electron, which does not interact with the filled d subshell and thereby does not lower electron mobility.
The thermal conductivity of silver is among the highest of all materials, although carbon and superfluid helium-4 have higher thermal conductivity.
The electrical conductivity of silver is the highest of all metals, surpassing even that of copper, and it has the lowest contact resistance of any metal.
Silver readily forms alloys with copper, gold, and zinc. Zinc-silver alloys with low zinc concentration can be considered as face-centered cubic solid solutions of zinc in silver, as the silver structure remains largely unchanged as zinc is added, resulting in an increase in electron concentration.
Further increase in electron concentration leads to body-centered cubic, complex cubic, and hexagonal close-packed phases, which is of great importance in gravimetric analysis of silver compounds, particularly halides.
28 radioisotopes of silver have been identified, with the most stable being 105Ag with a half-life of 41.29 days, 111Ag with a half-life of 7.45 days, and 112Ag with a half-life of 3.13 hours. Silver has numerous nuclear isomers, the most stable being 108mAg, 110mAg, and 106mAg. The rest of the radioactive isotopes have half-l
Silver, a chemical element symbolized by Ag and having an atomic number of 47, is a transition metal that is soft, white, and has a shining appearance.
Out of all the metals, it boasts the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity.
This metal can be found in its pure form in the Earth's crust and as an alloy with gold and other metals, or in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite.
The majority of silver production is derived as a byproduct from refining copper, gold, lead, and zinc.
Silver has long been considered a valuable metal, used in bullion coins alongside gold.
As one of the seven metals of antiquity, silver has played a significant role in various cultures throughout history.
Aside from serving as currency or an investment medium, silver has a multitude of uses, including in solar panels, water filtration, jewelry, ornaments, high-end tableware and utensils, electrical contacts and conductors, specialized mirrors and window coatings, catalyzing chemical reactions, adding color to stained glass, and in specialized confectionery. Its compounds are utilized in photographic and X-ray film, and dilute solutions of silver nitrate and other silver compounds are used as disinfectants and bactericides in medical applications, such as bandages, wound-dressings, catheters, and other instruments.
Silver is similar in physical and chemical properties to copper and gold, its neighboring elements in group 11 of the periodic table. Its electron arrangement, 4d105s1, is consistent with copper and gold. Unlike metals with incomplete d-shells, the metallic bonds in silver are weak and lack a covalent character.
When protected, silver has a higher optical reflectivity than aluminum at wavelengths longer than 450 nm, but its reflectivity decreases to zero near 310 nm at shorter wavelengths.
The high electrical and thermal conductivity of silver and its neighboring elements in group 11 is attributed to the freedom of their single s electron, which does not interact with the filled d subshell and thereby does not lower electron mobility.
The electrical conductivity of silver is the highest of all metals, surpassing even that of copper, and it has the lowest contact resistance of any metal.
Silver readily forms alloys with copper, gold, and zinc. Zinc-silver alloys with low zinc concentration can be considered as face-centered cubic solid solutions of zinc in silver, as the silver structure remains largely unchanged as zinc is added, resulting in an increase in electron concentration.
Further increase in electron concentration leads to body-centered cubic, complex cubic, and hexagonal close-packed phases, which is of great importance in gravimetric analysis of silver compounds, particularly halides.
28 radioisotopes of silver have been identified, with the most stable being 105Ag with a half-life of 41.29 days, 111Ag with a half-life of 7.45 days, and 112Ag with a half-life of 3.13 hours. Silver has numerous nuclear isomers, the most stable being 108mAg, 110mAg, and 106mAg. The rest of the radioactive isotopes have half-l
.png&description=The Versatile and Precious Silver: Properties and Uses Silver, a chemical element symbolized by Ag and having an atomic number of 47, is …){kind=link}