Characteristics of Silver

Color

• When freshly broken, silver is a white metal. It is opaque and has a metallic luster. Silver retains its original white-to-gray color in oxygen and water. When exposed to sulfur compounds either in the air or in water, silver tarnishes. Tarnished silver is yellow, brown or black because it has formed a layer of sulfide. In nature, silver occurs in thick, ropey wires or block-like crystals. It is found commonly along with or in the vicinity of gold, lead, zinc and copper.

Varieties

• Pure silver is too malleable to be made into long-lasting jewelry. It loses its form quickly if not alloyed with another type of metal. The alloyed metals that are combined with the silver, and the percentages of silver in the compound, are what create different varieties. Sterling silver is composed of 92.5 percent silver and 7.5 percent copper. Britannia silver contains at least 95 percent pure silver and 5 percent other metals. Vermeil is sterling silver coated with a layer of platinum or gold.

Malleability

• One of the most important characteristics of silver is its malleability. Silver has been separated from lead and used since 3000 B.C. to make crafts and jewelry. The fact that silver can be easily bent and molded with primitive tools is part of the reason the ancients used it. Like gold, silver can be hammered into thin sheets and applied as a metal leaf or plating onto other mediums. Thin sheets of silver were used in ancient times to make mirrors, because silver is the best reflector of light of all natural metals.

Conductivity

• Silver is the best electrical conductor on Earth. Copper is the most widely used electrical conductor, but silver conducts electricity better than copper. It is just much more expensive. Despite the price, silver is still commonly used for its conductivity. According to Gold Eagle, 845 ounces of silver were used for electronics and photography in 2000. HTS wire is a type of electrical wire capable of conducting 140 times the amount of electricity as copper wire. Silver is an essential part of HTS wire.