History of Silver.
Silver’s history is long. The first evidence of silver mining dates back to 3000 B.C., in Turkey and Greece, according to the RSC. Ancient people even figured out how to refine silver. They heated the silver ore and blew air over it, a process called cupellation. The silver does not react to the air, but the base metals such as lead and copper oxidize and separate from the precious metal.
Silver forms in star explosions called supernovae, as does gold. A study published in September 2012 in the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics found that smaller stars that explode produce silver, while larger stars produce gold.
An 1804 silver dollar.
Silver really exploded on Earth, however, when Europeans landed on the New World in 1492. Spanish conquerors discovered that South America was home to rich veins of silver and silver ore, and they mined that wealth enthusiastically; according to the Silver Institute, an industry trade group, 85 percent of the silver produced worldwide came from Bolivia, Peru and Mexico between 1500 and 1800.
Silver played a big role in making early photography possible. Silver nitrate (silver combined with nitrogen and oxygen molecules) was used on photographic plates in the first, clunky cameras, according to the RSC, because it reacts to light by turning black — enabling photographers to capture an instant of light. Even with the rise of digital cameras, silver remains part of the traditional photographic process. As of 2003, the most recent year data is available, 1,920 metric tons of silver each year went to use for photographic purposes. Electrical and electronic uses were the second most-common single industrial use for silver, with 1,230 metric tons going into wires and gadgets in 2003. Jewelry, sterling silver and silver electroplated objects ran a distant third, using only 486 metric tons. Another 1,810 metric tons went to various other uses.
Who knew?
Silver’s atomic symbol is Ag, which seems to bear little relation to the name of the element. In fact, Ag is short for argentums, the Latin word for silver. The word “silver” is from the Anglo-Saxon word seafloor.
The first huge silver strike in the United States was Nevada’s Comstock Lode, first discovered in 1857 by two brothers who died before they could reap the benefits of their claim. According to Online Nevada, $305,779,612.48 of silver was pulled from the ground between 1859 and 1992.
There’s no doubt about it; silver is pretty, and humans have long thought so. In February 2014, archaeologists uncovered a trove of silver, including five hoop earrings, at a 3,200-year-old site in Israel.
Silver has antimicrobial properties, but that doesn’t make it a good option for home remedies. Homeopathy providers sometimes sell colloidal silver for a variety of health complaints, but drinking the stuff has a weird side effect: It turns the skin blue.
Leave the good silver in a drawer between Christmases and it’s likely to tarnish. So how do a museum’s silver pieces stay so shiny? They’re coated with transparent lacquers. Researchers are working to create nanometer-thick coatings that can replace the current hand-painted lacquers with something thinner, completely invisible and longer lasting.
