The Influence Of Silver

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The element Silver is a well-known element on the periodic table worldwide. Known for its beauty, Silver is one of the precious metals along with gold and platinum. Although silver is a frequently talked about element, most lack in depth knowledge of its characteristics, history, and usage.
The characteristics and properties of silver are what makes it a precious metal. In its pure form silver is a white, soft metal. Silver is extremely soft so a small amount of another metal is usually added to increase its hardness and strength. A metal silver is usually mixed with is copper. The element silver reflects 95 percent of light that strikes it, which makes it the most shiny of all the metals on the periodic table. The metal is located on the D …show more content…

Silver was one of the first of five metals to be used by human beings. The uses of silver vary from money, jewelry, ornaments, and utensils to electricity, medicine, and technology. Silver has been used in the economic systems of many major cultures. Silver is known as a coinage metal because it has been used to make coins for thousands of years (Helper, 2016). The denarius was a silver coin used by the Romans during the periods of the Republic and the Empire. The coin was first issued in about 211 B.C. (Doty, 2016). In the past, the United States also used the metal for coins. The uses of silver for jewelry is mainly because of the metals property of reflecting light. The metal shines brilliantly so it would be understandable why so many generations of humans have used the metal for beauty purposes. Silver is also used to make mirrors because of it property of reflecting light. Silver is used by the electrical industry for wires and other items today. Silver is used a lot in these industries because it conducts electricity better than any other metal. Silver is also surprisingly used in medicine today. Doctors use plates, wires, and drainage tubes made of silver. Doctors use silver equipment because silver helps kill bacteria (Helper, 2016). Silver compounds also have many uses. In medicine silver nitrate is used to cauterize wounds to prevent bleeding and infection. A mild solution of silver nitrate is used to treat certain eye and skin diseases. In the photographic industry silver nitrate is used in making film. Most silver salts used in film are made from silver nitrate. An example is silver bromide photographic film. It is made of silver nitrate and a potassium bromide solution (Belanger, 2016). Silver is used all around us in places many did not know

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