Silver refining

A micro-scale experiment explaining some principles related to the refining process of silver.

Some Questions and answers:

-Why use such a small container? =Because the larger the container the more solution of silver nitrate is required, which means that more of your silver is trapped in there.

-What are those small spots on your skin? =As you can imagine, it is due to silver nitrate splashes that landed on it. It is not so tragic, I tell everyone that I refilled a printer ink cartridge.

-Dude, how can you know that the silver content is 70% ? =Well, I know what went into that jar, that's why.

-Could you build a much better power supply? Theoretically I could, out of two transformers. But I have not found the right types yet. Actually anything that can supply (DC current) a voltage between 1,5 and 3,5 V and lots of Amps (goes anywhere from 10A to 800A) is suited for the job. Plating rectifiers do the job, but they cost a lot.

-Didn't your @1,5V time lapse take too long for producing almost nothing? =The batteries were already a bit consumed, I didn't measure it but I guess the current was much smaller than 0,28A. Theoretically each battery can supply at least 2000mAh which means that each battery can plate out 8,048g of pure silver.

-70% of 25g makes 17,5g, you only got 16,9g of fine silver, where is the rest of it? =The rest of the silver is in the first solution where I left the copper tube in, a small part is in the electrolyte solution because it had a bit of free nitric acid.

-Where do I get nitric acid from? =Good question, depends where on this planet you live at. In some countries you cannot buy nitric acid but you might get it through friends who work at a synthesis plant. In others, like Germany, you go to the pharmacy and buy some. Either way, you still have the option to make your own, I recommend watching Nurdrage's videos on how to make some.

-Why not edit the song so it won't need repeating itself? =Since I do not own the song I guess it is fair to at least not modify it, with respect to the artist.

Disclaimer: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR, AND EXPRESSLY DISCLAIM ALL LIABILITY FOR,DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, INJURY OR DEATH, ARISING OUT OF USE, REFERENCE TO, OR RELIANCE ON ANY INFORMATION CONTAINED WITHIN THIS VIDEO..


Song: Delerium - Prophecy (Album Syrophenikan 1990)

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[nikola96uf]

what is concetration of nitric acid

[fedaikn]

@nikola96uf i think this topic is covered somewhere in the comments page, but concentration can be anywhere from 20 to 50% . you can also use higher concentrated acid but you will loose some of it because it tends to break down to these fumes quicker than the weaker concentrated one.

[McNeeBullion]

Great vid..two questions for yall: 1 - instead of melting silver cement into an ingot, can you just put it in a filter bag and put the positive lead into it? Seems like making it into an ingot only to melt it during electrolisis is redundent. 2 - What is the 10% Silver Nitrate Solution? Is this what has been poured off from step one after silver cement has been filtered out?

Thanks guys!

[fedaikn]

@McNeeBullion common sense will tell that loose or tightly packed metal powder will conduct electricity well enough but my guess is that this method will only corrode the wire that leads to the anode instead of the cemented silver.

for silver nitrate you just add cemented silver to a small quantity of nitric acid until the acid is depleted.

what has been poured off at step one is a BLUE solution...at step 2 the solution is colorless.... blue comes from copper nitrate..undesired

[DrLsw]

if i bought 50 grams of silver nitrate for 80$ would it be cost effective to refine it?

[fedaikn]

@DrLsw NO, it wouldn't be cost effective

50 g of 99,9% silver nitrate contain only 31,76 g of pure silver. currently 1g of pure silver sells for 1,0787 dollars, which means that your 50g of nitrate will only yield 34,26 dollars worth of silver metal.

[fedaikn]

@littlebitsick it may work, although the amount of silver is very small. feel free to experiment and document it. maybe you would want to post it

[littlebitsick]

i have some old surface mount solder paste, containing 3% silver, the rest is made up with Tin, bismuth and some flux to aid flowing. Do you think this method would work on the paste i have? im thinking of doing a little experiment

[fedaikn]

@Squish120 thank you for answering some questions over here at the comments page.

i made this video and others mainly to share knowledge with other people who are interested. back when i was searching for info i found little, so i want to contribute to improvement of that.

i did not post videos lately mainly because of lack of time, but i still have some thing coockin', which will come out when i find the time for it.

[Squish120]

@NytingGayle Not much point refining the copper due to its value, but it can be done the same way. With your spent solution of copper nitrate, add a clean piece of steel and copper will plate out. Then you can use the same electrolysis method with copper - usually as copper sulfate because its cheaper and plate pure copper, very difficult to melt though without creating oxides