# Screwed Up dissolving Silver in Nitric Acid



## nubs (Nov 12, 2011)

Hi All. I have done this before but something strange happened this time. When I placed a couple of bars (of what I thought were sterling silver) into about 30% niitric acid, I started getting a cloudy reaction.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22628158/20111112_110628.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22628158/20111112_110635.jpg

And I have a video so you can see how its reacting. I'll attach the video later. Can anyone help me figure out what happened and what I should do?


----------



## niteliteone (Nov 12, 2011)

The first thing needed is to know that it was truely sterling silver.
You said "a couple of bars" :?: 
Where did they come from :?: 
How did you get them :?: 

Need more information than just a picture of what you have now. :idea:


----------



## nubs (Nov 12, 2011)

I received a half dome of melted down metal from my grandfather after he passed away. It looked like sterling silver. However something interesting was that it melted extremely easily. I thought that was just because it was mixed with other metals and sterling silver has a lower melting point. It was about 12 ounces in which I melted down into 6 or 7 bars. The other thing that lead me to believe it was silver was the fact that it was kept with a bunch of silver coins and some sticks that were labeled 50-60% silver.

Is there anyway to test to see if its silver using any household items? It's a weekend and I'm not sure I can find any testing kits today.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22628158/20111112_110643.mp4 Here is a video and you can actually see some of the bars.


----------



## nubs (Nov 12, 2011)

I think I figured it out. I decided to see what it looks like when lead is put in nitric acid and it looks almost exactly like the video on youtube.


----------



## niteliteone (Nov 12, 2011)

nubs said:


> I think I figured it out. I decided to see what it looks like when lead is put in nitric acid and it looks almost exactly like the video on youtube.



Nubs,
Lead was the first thing that came to my mind also.
But don't write off this mess just yet. Get it into a safe place until you can test for the presence of silver in the mix.
Do you have any of the bars left that are not in the acid ?
If so save them until they can be tested for silver as well.

Several silverware makers would use lead in the handles of silver knives and that "half dome" of your grandfathers could have come from a source similar to that. Melted down knife handles lead and all. After all you did say it was in with several other silver items. Hopefully you are this lucky. :shock: 

Search the site for ways to seperate silver from lead while also searching for ways to test for silver with what you have at home. I will look for a few things too and post what I can find.

So put a hold on everything until we can figure out what you have and ways to deal with it. Hopefully others will get back from their holiday and join in the conversation soon.

Hang in their 8) 
Tom C.


----------



## butcher (Nov 12, 2011)

I have seen silver plated lead Items, I suspected but not sure if the lead was alloyed to make it a somewhat harder. 
maybe he melted something like that.


----------



## Geo (Nov 12, 2011)

could it have been silver dore?


----------



## nubs (Nov 14, 2011)

Geo said:


> could it have been silver dore?


I don't think so. I have dissolved like 35-50% silver in nitric before and it never looked anything close to what this looks like.
On a related note, I decided to let the mixture sit out in the sun. The lead cement settled to the bottom and the nitric solution came to the top. I basically just took the top layer of nitric and poured it into another beaker and used the drop out method with copper to see what would happen. There is some silver, coming out. Not very much though. Not sure it's worth the acid that it takes to break down the lead. I will look for other methods to separate silver from lead as mentioned previously.


----------



## Geo (Nov 14, 2011)

nubs said:


> Geo said:
> 
> 
> > could it have been silver dore?
> ...



silver dore is a mixture of lead and silver from where the two are mixed during a refining process.


----------



## nubs (Nov 14, 2011)

Found a way to separate silver from lead. It's really quite interesting and I wonder if it might be a more viable method for refining.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkes_process
And zinc is quite cheap, I found a web site that sells a pound for $2.29.
http://www.rotometals.com/product-p/zincingots.htm?gclid=CLKj1czUt6wCFQN-hwodCGw-8g


----------



## butcher (Nov 15, 2011)

Nubs,
Good job on studying, and searching for your answers, I would also try Parkes process, you will find some interesting discussion of it on the forum.

Another option, or one you may want to use along with (after the parkes process), the bone ash cupel to absorb small amounts of lead.

Before spending much time or money on this think is there enough silver to be worth it? Or am I just experimenting and do not care as long as I learn from it?

Also deal with your lead salts properly, one Idea is get a dead car battery, heat the powdered lead salts to lower nitric acid content, and put them in old dead car battery, and recycle it. Remember these are very dangerous,


----------

