Okay, we've heard some really good arguments in favor and against ionic silver and particulate silver from both camps. A lot of important information has been conveyed through this thread and I am grateful to all of the authors who have contributed to it. One of the issues that caught my attention was that ionic silver forms silver chloride when it combines with the salt in out bodies. What about particulate silver? Won't the exposed surface area of it do the same thing? Is their some covalent bonding issue that keeps this from happening?
A silver coin is just a really big particle of silver and the outer surface of it will tarnish (silver oxide) when it is exposed to air. Won't the exposed surface area of smaller silver particles (mesosilver) form silver chloride when exposed to NaCl? It's my understanding that the exposed surface area is what is responsible for killing pathogens. Perhaps silver chloride is what is killing the pathogens. Once again, thanks for all of the good contributions to this thread. Andy
