Franks response better fits the post concerning the grey color left on
the dogs skin than this one about silver colored deposits on non conductive
processing surfaces that likely have not dried out.
 As metallic silver and silver oxide slowly build up on non conductive
processing surfaces [while under current], a conductive track is
established and the plateout accelerates to the point of forming a
reflective mirror finish..exactly like a mirror... on those surfaces.  It's
really hard to remove.
 Using warm water usually prevents the initial buildup.
Ken

At 08:19 AM 7/2/01 -0400, you wrote:
>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
>
>
>
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