Silver Refining - Silver Chloride to elemental silver using 10 % sulfuric acid and aluminum rod

[ballymoss1963]

To get 10% Sulphuric Acid, do i just dilute my 96% Sulphuric 10x with distilled water?

Thanks

[indeedItdoes]

@ballymoss1963

1 part conc' sulfuric to 9 parts water.

ALWAYS add the acid to the water! not the other way around.

[1990suzuki]

so your basically making silver or am i misunderstanding?

[indeedItdoes]

@1990suzuki

You are correct Sir.

Not "making" it though, just reducing it from the chloride salt.

Hopefully, soon i'll be making a complete tutorial regarding AgCl.

[1990suzuki]

@indeedItdoes

so what you put salt in the beaker or what ever and 10% sulfuric acid and it takes it out of the salt or what?

Thanks for the quick reply..

[indeedItdoes]

@1990suzuki

No man... the sliver is combined with chlorine, that's called a "salt", the chemical formula is "AgCl". this is the white powder lying on the bottom of the cup.

The acidic conditions and the aluminum "strip" the chlorine atom from the silver, leaving it in it's elemental form (the dark spot you see in the viseo)

[StaigeFright]

where can I get 10% sulfuric acid?

[indeedItdoes]

@StaigeFright

Battery Acid... Home depot... Ace any hardware store...

[Robbob9933]

You could have used copper when you were at at the silver nitrate stage. When you stick copper into silver nitrate, atomic silver will precipitate out. A clean (no solder) piece of copper water pipe works great.

[indeedItdoes]

@Robbob9933

You are absolutely correct. Thank you for that comment.

Hopefully, soon, when time allows, i'll present other methods for treating silver, either recovery and refining.

[spotlightman1234]

i tried this with iron and it works!!

[indeedItdoes]

@spotlightman1234

Thanks for sharing.

Have fun and be safe.

[thaibu]

its better to use iron (cheaper) because aluminum forms a gel thats a nuisance that gets worse with water when cleaning.

[indeedItdoes]

@thaibu

You are correct, but the problem is not the gel like solution, it is the left over solids AlOH that most be washed well with water several time to remove. I liked using Al over Fe since it is so much faster.