Silver is a mineral with a hardness of 3 out of 10 on the Mohs scale of mineral hardness [?]. These Cubicly structured gems are made of ag, their full chemical compound being Ag.

Silver is a Native Element with an isometric system, a soft, white, precious metallic element of group 1 of the Periodic System with the symbol Ag.

It appears as cubes, octahedrons, and dodecahedrons, and rarely as crystals. Native silver cubes are always small, usually displaying stepped faces, or in compact masses of twining branches, and wirelike forms of a silvery, gray-white color. Aggregates that look like trees with small individual branches at right angles or star-shaped aggregates are common.

It is fairly soft, very heavy, ductile, and malleable. It is opaque, with bright metallic luster, though almost always dulled by a blackish film caused by surface chemical alteration. The color of the metal in its fresh state is silver-white, but oxidizes quickly, depending on the thickness of the surface coating. It fuses at a low temperature (960 C/1760 F), and is soluble in nitric acid. It tarnishes if exposed to fumes of hydrogen sulfide.

Silver is formed by reduction of sulfides in the lower part of lead, zinc, and silver deposits. Sometimes it also forms as a primary mineral, either in low-temperature hydrothermal veins associated with calcite or in high-temperature veins associated with nickel or cobalt sulfides and uraninite. It is frequently associated with copper.

The most beautiful branchlike formations of native silver longer than 20 cm have been found in Kongsberg (Norway), where hydrothermal deposits rising to the surface produced masses of silver up to 800 kilograms. The highest level of production has been from the Guanajuato mine (Mexico). Other important locations of silver finds are Freiberg, Schneeberg, Annaberg (Germany), Joachimsthal (Czechoslovakia), Ontario (Canada), San Luis Potosi (Mexico), Sardinia, Bolivia, Chile, Australia, Colorado (USA). A largest block of silver was mined in Aspen, Colorado (USA) weighing 380 kg. (844 lbs.).

Silver Resources

  • Silver Value-Nice silver calculator that calculates value of silver in various karats and weights.
  • Silver Price Per OZ-Site that lists live silver prices per ounce, as well as the melt values for most silver coins. Live value updated every few minutes it looks like.
  • Silver (Wiki)-Silver article from Wikipedia goes into a little more detail in regards to this silver metal.

The specific gravity [?] for Silver is 10.5, it's refractive index [?] is None, and it's double refraction [?] is None.

History

The name "silver" can trace its origin back to the High German "silabar" and even to the Gothic "silubr". Centuries earlier, the Greeks called it "argyros" from "argos" meaning "brilliant white." The Latin name for silver is "argentum" meaning "grey", and is the origin of its chemical symbol Ag, assigned by Jons Jacob Berzelius, who devised the system of chemical notation we use today.


Silver is rarer than gold, but reacts to chemicals and external elements more than gold does. There is evidence of the use of silver all throughout history, as a medium of exchange, as stored treasure, and jewellery and ornaments. Ancient cultures valued silver much higher than gold. If our currency today is based on the gold standard, monetary stability during the Roman Empire depended on how much silver reserves they had.


It has also been considered to have healing and anti-bacterial properties and liquids like wine, vinegar did not spoil when poured into silver bottles. In 1679, Adam Lonicerus wrote that "pulverized silver takes away evil scabbiness, when rubbed in foul wounds consumes the bad flesh, strengthens the heart and makes good blood."

Industrial Usages

Silver is the best-known conductor of both heat and electricity. As such it is used in photography, chemistry, optics, electronics, and in hundreds of other industrial and commercial applications. It is malleable and ductile enough for it to be formed into fine wires.


In the medical industry, silver is used in wound dressings and for coating medical devices like catheters and breathing tubes that need anti-bacterial shields. Even if it was used as a disease-resistant substance in ancient times, debate continues about whether mixtures like colloidal silver, used today as an alternative medical treatment, is actually effective, or may cause health disorders like argyria, where the skin becomes blue or bluish-grey colored.


In the USA and some other countries silver is still used as currency, generally in some form of alloy. Silver forms 20 to 25 per cent of the gold and silver alloy, called electrum.


In its pure form, silver is too soft to use for jewellery, so it is usually alloyed with copper, also for silverware. Silver content is usually marked in parts per thousand. Sterling silver (925) has 925 parts pure silver and 75 parts copper.

You May Also Like...

Platinum

Platinum: Platinum is a rare and precious metal that occurs as a Native Element, one of the rarest in the Earth's crust. It resembles silver, but it is less reactive and does not tarnish in air, and is thus considered a noble metal. Its greater hardness, higher density, and high melting point also distinguish it from silver. Like gold, another noble metal, the only common acid combination to dissolve it i (read full)

Gold

Gold: Gold is a Native Element that appears in very rare, small, octahedral, cubic, and dodecahedral crystals. It normally occurs in very small, shapeless grains, sheets, and flakes. Dendrites are rare. Nuggets are common in alluvial or glacial deposits. It is of yellow color, varying in brightness, depending on the impurities present. This bright, rich yellow is resistant to tarnishing. Gold is often (read full)

Anglesite

Anglesite: Anglesite is a very soft gem just slightly harder than gold and silver and as such it does not hold facets well/cut easily. Because of its softness it tends to scratch, and these scratches will take away from the value and appearance of this gem. Once cut this gem will not do well in rings as it will quickly become scratched and its edges worn round. This gem is usually colorless or clear, but (read full)

Sinhalite

Sinhalite: Sinhalite is a magnesium aluminum borate, and is most commonly found as transparent honey-yellow to brown grains or pebbles with an orthorhombic crystal system. It also appears as pale yellowish, yellow, brown, greenish-brown to black. It occurs in contact metamorphic rocks that are rich in boron, among gneiss or granite where limestones are being replaced through contact with magmatic rock. But (read full)

Rhodochrosite

Rhodochrosite: Rhodocrosite is a manganese carbonate, a mineral of the calcite series with a hexagonal crystal system. It is isomorphous with calcite and siderite. It occurs as semitransparent, rhombohedral crystals with poor luster, frequently saddle-shaped, growing into druses, or as concretionary masses, sometimes with irregular, contorted veining. It has low hardness and perfect rhombohedral cleavage. Norm (read full)

Tags

silvernative elementmetalcubedendriteductilemalleableoreconductorheatelectricitycurrencygoldalloyelectrum

Terms

Double Refraction or dr is the ability of a mineral to separate a refracted ray of light into 2 rays. If held over an image or text it will display the object 2x its original size.

Mohs Scale of Mineral Hardness is the standard used to categorize a mineral's ability to resist scratching. It gets its name from Friedrich Mohs, the German geologist who first created the scale.

RI or Refractive Index defines light's ability to move through the mineral or in a general sense, any material.

SG or Specific Gravity is the ratio of the weight of any substance to that of pure water at temperature of 3.98°C(39.2°F) and standard atmospheric pressure. This is important to note when actively seeking these minerals in the wild. Minerals with a higher SG will settle below material with a lower sg over time.