Hi all, I think Beth's questions say it is time to re-post this *real* simple tutorial that covers some of the basics of the two simplest processes.
The first thing to do is distinguish between the salt and no-salt methods... Adding a drop or two of saline, or "a few grains" of salt, or a pinch of baking soda as various recipes call for, makes your water quite conductive. So current flows right away, lots of silver particles are generated right from the start, and the whole process takes only a few minutes to generate useable concentrations of CS. The product is clear to slightly milky and no significant deposits form on the electrodes. The epitome of simplicity! The downside to this technique is that it's been widely reported it makes particles much larger than those created by other methods. It is claimed that these are not as safe as we want. The other apparent result of these larger particles is shorter shelf life. There is frequently fallout in the bottom of the bottle after a few days to a couple of weeks. See http://www.elixa.com/silver/lindmn.htm for Peter Lindemann's discussion of salt vs. no salt. That being said, and much to the horror of the purists among us <grin>, I will say that a lot of folks have used this method with good results and no problems (that we know of) to date. I started off that way and have since switched to no-salt. I wouldn't hesitate to use such CS if I needed to, but to be cautious I'd probably go back to my no-salt preparation when I could. But, what about the no salt methods? How are they different? Bigtime differences are that they are *slow*, and that you have to deal with the gunk that accumulates on the negative electrode. The basic no-salt recipe goes something like this: Start with the purest water you can get. Steam distilled in jugs from the grocery store is usually adequate, barring occasional quality control problems. Make sure eveything is clean and *very* well rinsed. Usually you would wash and rinse everything as you normally would, then follow up with at least two rinses in distilled water. Don't handle the business end of the silver wires or touch the inside of the glass so you don't get salt or oils from your skin on things. Pop the wires into the glass, using whatever arrangement you've chosen to keep them a fixed distance apart and straight. Attach the power and ... and ... err ... sit and wait. <grin> After a length of time that will vary by the purity of your water, temperature, voltage, electrode spacing, and possibly the phase of the moon (really!), you will see the process begin working. This stage could take anything from 20 minutes to maybe an hour. I should add that you can save some time by reserving a quarter of your last batch to act as "starter" for the next. The initial concentration of CS particles will chop a big chunk off startup time. You won't have this option when making your first batch. You'll finally see the electrodes start to change color and texture. The positive electrode, the one that's donating the silver, will go grey and then a sort of soot-like black as the surface becomes rough on a microscopic level. A faint, wispy cloud of silver particles will start to come off the surface. The negative electrode will turn grey and start to accumulate a fuzzy looking "fluff" of silver particles that have fallen out of suspension and are clinging there. Most recipes tell you to remove the electrodes from the water, being as careful as you can not to disturb the "fluff", and wipe them off. Stir the CS to distribute the cloud of particles that form around the positive wire. Then put the wires back in place and let the process continue. Repeat these steps every once in a while (5 to 20 minutes?) until you decide to stop the run. If you get a little of the fluff in the CS, don't worry. You can let it settle and pour off the rest, or you can filter the product through unbleached coffee filters. One misunderstanding some beginners have had is stirring the fluff *into* the CS. The result is a grey, muddy looking product that I would not consider safe. The total time from the first wisps of silver from the positive wire to when you stop the run varies widely depending on many other details of the recipe which I won't cover here, since there are so many variations and we haven't settled on any single arrangement. There are several ways to know that you're really making CS and to decide when to stop the run... Shine a narrow beam flashlight or inexpensive laser pointer through the water. If you see the beam clearly, you are seeing the Tyndall effect. That's the light being scattered by all the little particles of silver in the water. If, looking closely, you can see visible "sparklies" in the beam, it means you're running for too long or at too high a current, and are generating some big particles. Another useful tool is to put a milliammeter of some sort in series with your electrodes to monitor the current. The initial current gives you a relative measure of your water purity. The ending current helps you get the same approximate concentration from batch to batch. And if your batteries are dead you'll notice that too! <grin> A reasonably small particle, moderate ppm CS can be made by stopping the process when you notice a faint but distinct yellow or golden color. Some methods that use very low current tend toward clear. If you blast right along until you're generating larger particles, your CS may even end up a deep amber. I'm inclined to go for simple and conservative, so light yellow seems good enough. Without knowing exactly, it's a good guess that it'll be somewhere in the 5-10 ppm range using most of these methods. The final tests of what you've made are to get the ppm analysed by a local environmental lab or one of the kindly folks on the list who offer that service, and by trying it out on something! Want a really nice demonstration of the effects of CS on bacteria? Take two cut flowers and put them in separate vases. Add some CS to the water in one of them and leave plain water to the other. Top them up as the flowers "drink". Tell me what condition the two flowers are in after a week! <smile> As for all those details and variables I haven't talked about? Folks on the list can help you know what to expect from your particular setup, and you'll get the hang of what you're doing from experience. I hope that I've described things well enough to let you avoid some of the bigger mistakes and to give you some confidence in what you're doing as you go on. Good luck and good silvering! Be well, Mike D. Disclaimer: I, MICHAEL DEVOUR, DISCLAIM ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE USE OR MISUSE OF THE INFORMATION, INCLUDING LINKS, PROVIDED ON THIS LIST. EVERY INDIVIDUAL SHOULD OBTAIN COMPETENT MEDICAL ADVICE BEFORE USING THIS INFORMATION. THIS FREE INFORMATION HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED BY ME AND IS PROVIDED SOLELY FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES TO INDIVIDUALS INTERESTED IN THESE TOPICS. -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. To join or quit silver-list or silver-digest send an e-mail message to: [email protected] -or- [email protected] with the word subscribe or unsubscribe in the SUBJECT line. To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
