How can you tell if something is pure silver

guns-n-painthorses

Have some electrical connecters that look like silver, filed deep into them, still silver not plated copper. So is there a way to tell if it is silver. It's non magnetic and feels like soft metal. Don't care if if we damage them or not, they're scrap either way.

timberbeast

I believe that there is some kind of test that one can do with some kind of acid to detect any other "base metal" in silver. A coin collector or jeweler should be able to tell you. (I think.)

jonk

OOH! I know this one! Simple answer! This is how density was discovered! Socrates or Aristotle or one of those old Greeks was asked by the king to determine if a new gold brick he had recieved was pure or not. So the gent in question figured out that objects displaced different amounts of water for weight for size. So here is what you do. Get your hands on some pure silver of known quality. Fill a graduated cylinder that measures in millileters and add the silver and measure displacement. Weigh the silver and get its mass. Look up density of silver, and you can calculate specific gravity. Do the same with your unknown sample. I forget exactly what math is involved, but you don't need anything more than a check weight, a cylinder of water, a scale, and a calculator!!

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"...hit your enemy in the belly, and kick him when he is down, and boil his prisoners in oil- if you take any- and torture his women and children. Then people will keep clear of you..." -Admiral of the Fleet Lord Fisher, speaking at the Hague Peace Conference in 1899.

Gordian Blade

It was Archimedes. http://www.encyclopedia.com/articles/00686.html You don't say what equipment you have available for chemical testing. I'm going to assume not much. In that case, if you know a local jeweler that you have dealt with before so he knows you are a repeat customer, take a sample to him and he can tell you for sure.

jet

use a digital volt meter on millivolt scaledip sample in vinigar with one lead attatched but not touching the vinigar,connect other lead to silver coin (%90)if the meter reads about zero the metals are the samedon't let the leads touch the vinigar,it will give you false reading.

offeror

Having worked with a silver appraiser, I can tell you that you will have to go to a qualified silver person or appraiser. Because they are used to dealing with jewelry and such items as trays, flatware, etc. rather than electrical equipment, you still may get some head scratching, but they can probably help you figure out how to get your answers. Sometimes a trip to the library for a reference to the history of your item is called for.Silver products for the dining room or for jewelry can be identified by various tiny markings on the items, but with something like electrical equipment I doubt that any marks would be required. You may need a loupe (or magnifying glass) to find and read the markings on the metal in any case. I'm wondering why somebody would use silver for such an application. If you're thinking of collecting it and boiling it down, your jeweler may be able to tell something by cutting or taking a sample to determine the hardness, or softness, of the metal... something they would not be able to do to a rare antique piece.

gruntled

I was going to suggest the Archimedes test but then I realized that while it is good it is not perfect. It would be possible to make an alloy that used materials heavier & lighter than silver mixed with silver. This is harder with gold & would likely have been impossible in Archimedes time.

competentone

G n P,What are these "contacts" from?Palladium has been used for electrical contacts in certain applications--right now, palladium is around $360/oz while silver is only $4.50/oz.Might be good to be sure of what you have.

aby80

In the early 1970s aluminum wire was used to wire homes and a lot of the wire connectors were were made of aluminum. I used to use a lot of sterling and pure silver in western style jewelry. I still have a large amount and when I get rid of it I'll probably have to go to a used silver store to sell it. Most jewelers and businesses that sell silver use an acid they drop in a place that can't be redily observed and from the color it flashes they can tell whether the metal is silver or not.

Xracer

If the connectors are from mil.spec. or biomedical equipment, they could well be high silver content alloy.I've seen silver-gold alloy wires and contacts used in mil.spec. weather instruments, and silver/palladium parts/contacts/connecters used in pacemaker leads are SOP.

Pup

Every single one of you is going about this the wrong way!!!! If you want to know if something is pure silver, just send it to me. If you don't get it back it's pure silver

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Politicians, like diapers, should be changed often and for the same reason.

barto

eerie-my wife has the same ability.

barto

eerie-my wife has the same ability.

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the hard stuff we do right away - the impossible takes a little longer

Boomerang

First off, what everyone has been referring to above regarding relative weight/density to water is called Specific Gravity.Next, what are you referring to as electrical connectors? How many do you have?What do they look like? Can air be trapped inside of them?As a geologist, I have had to evaluate/assay different earth material/metals. SG is one test that is used, along with many others. I can tell you from experience that using this test alone is not definitive, and it is very time consuming, if done correctly.Your first problem will be having enough mass of material to insure the test will be accurate. Next, since these are connectors I am going to assume that they will be having cavities in them and thus void spaces that will lead to error in your weight displacement measurements of the water. In order to be as accurate as possible you will need to repeat the set up a minimum of 3 times to get a norm/average reading. If the silver has been alloyed with another metal then you will be unsure as to what is suppose to weight to begin with. Starting to get the picture. Now for an easier way, it is called a heft test. The heft test is just a very basic SG test that compares a known sample to an unknown sample. Simply put it is a qualitative comparison, that uses your ability to sense weight variation in your hands. BTW, if you have access to a digital scale that is even better. Get a known silver object (e.g. a silver ring or coin, or some aluminum wire or cans), then get what appears to be an equivalent volume of the connectors, then compare their weights. First compare the aluminum wire with the silver coin, note the wiegtht difference. Then compare the connectors with the coins and the aluminum sample and see witch ones appear closer.My best guess is that these connectors are aluminum connectors, especially if they had their origins in the seventies. Aluminum was a standard alternative to copper during that period of construction. Silver would have only been used in some very special applications. Usually, only metals that do not tend to oxidize were used in electronic applications (e.g. gold, etc.) Silver oxidizes over time when exposed to the elements. Now having said all this, try what is called the streak test. This is when you scratch an unknown specimen on a white piece of porcelin. If it streaks silvery white you may have silver after all. Never hurts to hope.Good luck, Boomer

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Protect our Constitutional Rights. [This message has been edited by Boomerang (edited 03-03-2002).]

Shootist3006

Back in the early 60's, I helped wire a gas seperating plant that used silver buss bars and connectors. These were about 1/2" thick, 4" wide and several feet long. Lots of silver, lots of current, high voltage. Had to drill and cut to make them fit and attach properly, loved that scrap!!!Should be very easy to tell if these are silver or aluminum.

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Quod principi placuit legis habet vigorem.Semper Fidelis

hardtyms

are they connectors or contacts a lot of your irrigation or oil well control boxes might have silver I know a felow junker that just loves to scrap out anything that might have silver you just got to learn what to look for some times core buyers buy old computer cards ect. ect. for the gold

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GUN CONTROL!!! Means hitting your target!!!! ((o))

5db

Now the simple solution is the trip to a Bench Jeweler.However, it's possible to make this discovery another way, but is much more complicated. Melt some down and pour ya some bullets, then go find yourself a Werewolf......

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If you have one shot...Accu-Shot Website[This message has been edited by 5db (edited 03-03-2002).]

Judge Dread

I go for the she-wolf idea, she smells silver, if pure,she turns into a sexy lady and eats you, if not pure she stays a wolf and EATS you.

travelor

aby80, I do some casting as a hobby, and am always looking for scraps of sterling or pure silver at a reasonable cost...email me at adventur@ameritech.net if you would like to make a deal...

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keep lots of extra uppers for your ar..you can change often enough to keep the thing from over heating...what ever caliber fits the moment..~Secret Select Society of Suave Stylish Smoking Jackets~

old single shots

you guys have all missed the real way to tell.Take it to a pawn shop.If they offer you 10 cents a pound,it's pure silver.If they offer you 20 cents a pound,it's pure gold.

guns-n-painthorses

WOW! A lot of imput! Been gone a few days, good to be back. First off, It's not aluminuim, how do I know, you ask? Well, because I have about 5 tons of that laying out in the barn. So we are back to square one. These connectors have the same look as a real silver coin. I cut one in half on the bandsaw, same color all the way thru! They came out of that 1000 kva ups we scrapped. It was new in 93 so it's not a 70's item. I know, even if it is silver, it's not worth much, but there is about a pound of it. I think I'll try the porcelain test.

j2k22

silver is used in contacts because it has a very low resistance to electrical current. I have a number of contact points from large circuit breakers that have silver content, but they do not seem to melt and flow like fine (999%) silver does. I have heard that they are sometimes plated with Cadmium, to reduce wear and oxidation. Cadmium vapors are poisonous, so be careful if you try to melt your scrap down for any purpose. I don't know of any practical and cheap way to determine the silver content of electrical scrap. Probably best to contact the manufacturer for details.

5db

I believe the "porcelain test" is being misrepresented here. During the days of the Chamber pot (Thunder mugs) the high class folks had porcelain examples and if the porcelain got stained from use it was deemed silver-lined, representing the wealth it had seen passed through.....

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If you have one shot...Accu-Shot Website

competentone

GnP,I was doing some searching on other topics, thought about your questions and tried searching "scrap palladium"; came up with: http://goldrefiner.com You might want to try searches with "scrap", "assaying", "precious metals recover" and see what you come up with.