Hello, Mike, Merriam-Webster's Dictionary (1997-2004) defines the adjective oligodynamic in its primary meaning to be: "active in very small quantities < an oligodynamic germicide> ."
The Hutchinson Encyclopedia (2000) defines it as "pertaining to effect of small quantities; having effect in small quantities only." Stokvius explained the meaning of oligodynamism in the Lancet, April 26, 1894. Sir Lawrence Bragg in his text The Crystalline State, in the section on Inorganic compounds, Structure types of compounds AX and AX2 mentions the work of Goldschmidt published in the Transactions Of The Faraday Society, 255, 1924 in determining the crystal structures of many metal oxides. Usually they are zincblende, rutile or fluor types. But silver metal is a face-centered-cubic according to Bragg (p. 146.) So powder-pattern x-ray diffraction should show quite a difference between suspensions of silver oxides and silver metal. Generating silver sol by electrolysis alone may or may not be possible. But it would not violate the laws of thermodynamics. After all, silver sols can be generated by non-electrolytic processes such as the colloid mill invented by Veimarn in 1906. Also, Arthur Thomas' text Colloid Chemistry (1934) mentions that a suspension of silver oxide can be reduced to a silver sol by Kohlschutter's method, in which hydrogen gas is bubbled through the silver oxide suspension (p. 115.) Alternatively, silver oxide in aqueous suspension can be converted to a silver sol by Svedberg's method, illuminating it with ultraviolet light (p. 116.) Best regards, Matthew
