Silver Friends, A big part of the reason for metalic silver is that this forms a bond with the ceramic. On the other hand if something like silver and ammonium nitrate is in solution as a salt, not a particulate colloid, perhaps this would be a better guarantee of complete saturation. Sometimes I worry that the largish, 1 micron CS ion may not penetrate very far into the purifier. Tests indicate the purifiers remove 99% of all partcles down to 1.0 micron, and I'd think this would happen near the surface.
But does such concentrated CS contain particles smaller than 1.0 micron?? These might penetrate a lot farther. I also want to explore the possibility of firing upto about 600C, at which temperature the carbon should burn off. But I don't know what this may do to the silver bond. And because of the higher temperatures at which the pottery is fired, upto 1050C, the silver in whatever form can only be applied after firing. We're going to have to do a more in depth kind of action research, results indicated empirically and not with a lot of expensive lab work. Reid Marshall wrote: What about ammonia (ammonium hydroxide). Would it not combine with the silver nitrate producing silver and ammonium nitrate? Hmm, it might produce silver hydroxide which will convert to silver oxide. Not sure. Might be worth a try though. Marshall Reid Harvey wrote: > Silver Friends, > As some of you may know I work with ceramic water filters that are > saturated with CS. Now I want to gain capacity to saturate with AgNO3, > and I'm hoping that some of those who are chemistry minded may be able > to guide me. Specifically I want to better understand how to burn off > the nitrate. Following I explain a problem I have, and I'd be grateful > for a response on this. > > What I have done in the past is to saturate the fired purifiers with the > silver nitrate, then place these in a kiln and fire to the first visible > red. I've done this in darkness so as to better judge this, the > temperature around 475C. Then I reach into the kiln with tongs, place > the purifiers in a bucket and cover with sawdust and a lid. The sawdust > begins burning and the combustion, seeking oxygen, pulls some of this > out of the purifier as NO3. Thus metalic metal remains, probably bonded > to the ceramic. (Extraneous nitrates that may remain are flushed out > with the first water put through the purifiers.) > > The problem is that the heavy oxidation implicit forces a lot of carbon > into the pores, these having been vacated by the oxygen, so the > purifiers turn black. My fear is that prospective purifier users will > be put off by the blackness. So here are my *QUESTIONS:* Do I even > need the the oxidation in the first place? If so, can I minimize the > oxidation, in such a way as to pull out the nitrate, without forcing in > the carbon? (Feel free to speculate.) At what temperature will I have > gone too high, burning off the silver? I am looking for simple answers > that will allay the need to determine these points with a lot of > testing. > > Thanks! > Reid > http://www.purifier.com.np -- The silver-list is a moderated forum for discussion of colloidal silver. Instructions for unsubscribing may be found at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: [email protected] Silver-list archive: http://escribe.com/health/thesilverlist/index.html List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
