a bottle of silver nitrate
Toronto. … as the Lone Ranger called to his white steed. My buddy and I used to listen to the radio program featuring the adventures of the Lone Ranger back in the late 1940s. Which brings us to the metal silver. It is the strange light sensitivity of silver salts that gave rise to our favourite art years ago across the sea.
In issue 22-3 Ev wrote an interesting article on silver and silver nitrate (I too have a small bottle of this silver salt that was famous for staining the fingers of unwary amateurs back in the mid 1800s (wet plate era). Ev’s article is simply titled, “Consider Silver” and begins, “Without exploitation of a property of this lustrous, relatively scarce metal it‘s unlikely that the benefits of photography would be ours to enjoy.
“The first record that we know was written about 3600 B.C. The discovery was made probably in the eastern Mediterranean and that the metal was found in its native state about 3000 B.C. An early metallurgist separated Silver from Lead, with which it is often associated. The Latin name, Argentum, remains with us in the chemical symbol Ag.
“Considered by chemists a noble metal, the language of commerce terms it precious. Scarcity is shown by its number in the order of abundance, number 63, since it exists in the earth ‘s crust in 0.000001 to 0.0001 per cent.
“Three quarters of Earth ‘s supply is found in nature combined with copper and lead, so it is a mining by-product. In Canada such by–product mines are found in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and the Yukon, with primary producers in Cobalt, ON and Great Bear Lake, NWT. The ductile metal, which is our best conductor of electricity and heat, is not found in Alberta. The important producing countries now are Mexico, Russia, Peru, U.S.A., Canada, Australia, and Poland.
“Sterling silver contains 7.5% Copper. A few years ago it was in much favour for tableware. Tarnish by gases in the air has lead to replacement by stainless steel. In Canada silver coinage was discontinued for general use in 1968.
“Like other precious metals (Gold, Platinum) it is weighed by Troy measure. There are 12 oz. to the pound (373.25 grams). At time of writing [1996] 100 and 1000 ounce bars are available at $7.35 per ounce in Canadian funds; refinery price is $6.92.”
Of course members read all of this article and more in the issue 22-3 pdf file on the free member-only DVD. Follow the membership note above or to the right. Questions? Email Lilianne at member@phsc.ca.
