Caution if fine. However, I will go out on a limb by saying that the hydroxide will not combine with the copper or brass material of the cathode. I believe that the negative charge on the cathode would work to repel the negatively charged hydroxide ion and that therefore they would not be able to combine. Perhaps, if the voltage was turned off and the electrodes were left in the solution then undesirable materials would be made by the hydroxide combining with the base metals of the cathode.
Dan >>> Marshall Dudley <[email protected]> 1/5/2006 10:21:45 AM >>> Dan Nave wrote: > Perhaps "Ole Bob" will answer this but in the meantime I'll chime in > with what I've learned here... > > The metals will come off the positive electrode (anode) which, in this > case, is the silver one. The brass is the negative electrode so it is > not going to be releasing metal ions or particles into the water. With > this DC system we should get the good quality "colloidal silver" that we > expect. > > Dan The hydroxide radical is released at the cathode. The hydroxide radical is very reactive and will almost certainly react with the copper and zinc in the brass producing copper hydroxide, zinc hydroxide and/or copper oxide and zinc oxide. The only metals I know that can be safely be used on the cathode are noble metals, maybe chrome, and high chrome stainless steel. The crome forms a non-soluble conductive barrier on the steel surface when it oxidized preventing further oxidization. Marshall -- The Silver List is a moderated forum for discussing Colloidal Silver. Instructions for unsubscribing are posted at: http://silverlist.org To post, address your message to: [email protected] Address Off-Topic messages to: [email protected] The Silver List and Off Topic List archives are currently down... List maintainer: Mike Devour <[email protected]>
