Ken wrote: > This is called plateout or electroless plating where a certain amount of > metal sticks to non conductive surfaces. > Ken
When the water is evaporated from a highly ionic silver solution the resulting residue is silver oxide. The explanation below was reproduced from the FAQ on www.silver-colloids.com What happens to the silver ions in solution when the water is evaporated? Silver ions in a solution cannot exist without water, so when the water is evaporated the silver ions (cations) must combine with an available anion to form a compound. The predominant anions present in a silver colloid solution are hydroxide and carbonate. The compounds thus formed are silver hydroxide and silver carbonate. Silver hydroxide is unstable and reduces to silver oxide and hydrogen. The silver carbonate will reduce to silver oxide and carbon dioxide. The final compound that remains is silver oxide. This process begins as a single silver ion is forced to combine with a single anion forming a single molecule of the compound. The molecule has no ionic charge and therefore no repulsive force. The lack of repulsion causes the molecules to be attracted to each other by van der Waals' force of attraction which causes them to aggregate and form small particles of the compound. The size of the particle growth is limited by the reduced mobility of the molecules as the water evaporates. What remains is particles of silver oxide whose diameter is 1 - 3 nanometers. It is these particles which predominate in TEM images made of silver colloid solutions which have a high ionic content. frank key -- 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]>
