Silver: AMERICAN ELEMENTS Supplier & Tech Info

Silver information, including Technical Data, Safety Data and its High Purity properties, research, applications and other useful facts are discussed below. Scientific facts such as the atomic structure, ionization energy, abundance on Earth, conductivity and thermal properties are included.

Silver has a brilliant white metallic luster. It is a little harder than gold and is very ductile and malleable, being exceeded only by gold and perhaps palladium. Pure silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of all metals, and possesses the lowest contact resistance. It is stable in pure air and water, but tarnishes when exposed to ozone, hydrogen sulfide, or air containing sulfur . Silver nitrate has wide application in painting, xerography, chemical electroplating, in compo nents for electric batteries and in medicine as catalyst. Silver chloride is another important compound, due to its ductility and malleability. The organic compounds of the element are used in the coating of several metals and in dynamite or other explosive bars. Metallic silver is used as a catalyst of several oxidation reactions such as those of ethanol and other alcohols. Silver is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.9999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder. Silver is also used in various metal alloys (See AE Alloys).

Silver facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are

(click on an element)

available for many specific states, forms and shapes on the product pages listed to the left. Elemental or metallic forms include pellets, rod, wire and granules for evaporation source material purposes. Nanoparticles and nanopowders provide ultra high surface area which nanotechnology research and recent experiments demonstrate function to create new and unique properties and benefits.

Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such uses as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Silver is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.

Silver is a Block D, Group 11, Period 5 element. The number of electrons in each of Silver's shells is 2, 8, 18, 18, 1 and its electronic configuration is [Kr]4d¹⁰ 5s¹. In its elemental form silver's CAS number is 7440-22-4. The silver atom has a radius of 144.5.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is 144.pm.

All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, thin fillm deposition using sputtering targets and evaporation materials, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology applications. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Silver compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.

Silver was first discovered by Early Man.

Argent

Silber

Argento

Prata

Plata

Silver

Silver Abundance. The following table shows the abundance of silver and each of its naturally occurring isotopes on Earth along with the atomic mass for each isotope.

Isotope	Atomic Mass	% Abundance on Earth
Ag-107	106.905	51.84
Ag-109	108.905	48.16

The following table shows the abundance of Silver present in the human body and in the universe scaled to parts per billion (ppb) by weight and by atom:

	Typical Human Body	Universe
by Weight	no data	06 ppb
by Atom	no data	0.007 ppb

Silver Safety Data and Biological Role. The safety data for Silver metal, nanoparticles and its compounds can vary widely depending on the form. For potential hazard information, toxicity, and road, sea and air transportation limitations, such as DOT Hazard Class, DOT Number, EU Number, NFPA Health rating and RTECS Class, please see the specific material or compound referenced in the left margin. Silver compounds have no biological role.

Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for Silver (the least required energy to release a single electron from the atom in it's ground state in the gas phase) is stated in the following table:

1^st Ionization Energy	731.01 kJ mol^-1
2^nd Ionization Energy	2073.48 kJ mol^-1
3^rd Ionization Energy	3360.61 kJ mol^-1

Conductivity. As to Silver's electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured in terms of electrical resistivity @ 20 ºC is 1.59 µOcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is 1.93. The thermal conductivity of Silver is 429 W m^-1 K^-1.

Thermal Properties of Silver. The melting point and boiling point for Silver are stated below. The following chart sets forth the heat of fusion, heat of vaporization and heat of atomization.

Heat of Fusion	11.3 kJ mol^-1
Heat of Vaporization	257.7 kJ mol^-1
Heat of Atomization	284.09 kJ mol^-1