Silver Facts You May Not Know
Silver is traded on world spot markets as well as on commodity futures exchanges. Industrial demand for silver is high which is one reason that the price of silver tracks the ups and downs of the world economy more so than gold. Another reason that silver is more responsive than gold to recessionary influences is that central banks do not trade in and accumulate silver as they do gold.
Silver is one of the few exceptions to the general order of filling of electron orbitals like copper directly above it in the Periodic Table. It fills all ten 4d states before it fills the second 5s state. You may not use silver yourself, but there’s an active worldwide market for it. Silver is less expensive than gold, and has equal or better optical properties.
Silver is a metallic element that is mined as a precious metal. It has various industrial uses, for example, in jewelry, silverware, electronic equipment, dental fillings, photographic processing, and disinfecting water. Silver is almost always monovalent in its compounds, but an oxide, a fluoride, and a sulfide of divalent silver are known. It does not oxidize in air but reacts with the hydrogen sulfide present in the air, forming silver sulfide (tarnish). Silver is available in different levels of purity. Fine silver is 99.9 percent silver; sterling silver is 92.5 percent silver, with other metals, typically copper, making up the difference, and coin silver is 90 percent silver with 10 percent copper.
Silver is found in minute quantities in seawater. Silver is also the best reflector of visible light known, but silver mirrors must be given a protective coating to prevent them from tarnishing. Silver has also been used to create coins, although today other metals are typically used in its place. Silver is a rare basic element that occurs naturally in our environment as a soft metal. Silver also occurs in the environment as a white powder (silver nitrate and silver chloride), and as a gray-to-black powder (silver oxide or silver sulfide) that is used in photography and medication.
Silver is not oxidized by oxygen, but resembles mercury in being oxidized by ozone. It has no action on water. Silver is even less protected from recession induced sales, which is why silver’s price is more volatile than gold’s. It has no central banks buying it during recessions.
Even with the advances made in digital photography silver is the preferred choice for everyone who wants the best in quality films. Critically acclaimed, award-winning pictures from all around the world, films that challenge and entertain you, films that present you with more than expected. Those films were probably made with the help of silver.
Silver is a white metal, like tin and cadmium, which resemble it, but are softer and lighter. When polished and untarnished, it has excellent, uniform reflectivity and so was preferred for mirrors. Silver is relatively soft, and it can be dented or damaged by rough handling. Especially vulnerable are raised areas and handles or feet on silver objects.
Silver is being accumulated as an investment but its industrial use accounts for a substantiable ongoing demand. Silver is used in photography and in making electrical circuits and conductors. Atomic number 47; atomic weight 107.868; melting point 960.8C; boiling point 2,212C; specific gravity 10.50; valence 1, 2. Silver is great, but as an investment must be viewed with cold neutrality like all assets.
The market for silver can be quite volatile as speculative demand kicks in so caution should be exercised should you decide to trade silver on the spot market or on futures exchanges.
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