# Unknown silver reaction?



## kevinlco (May 3, 2012)

Hello everyone! I have only done 2 runs of sterling silver with nitric and distilled water which has worked out great for me. Last night a friend of mine brought over this piece of metal that looked like sterling with some green tarnish on spots which I figure was the copper. The piece was not marked as it was very old and dug up several years ago. It weighed 19.5 grams, not magnetic and couldnt see copper when you scratch it. We placed it in a 50/50 mix of nitric which reacted right away like sterling always has for me while turning the water blue. This went on working great for about 2 hours after which I placed it on a hot plate for additional heat. The reaction stopped so I added a few more mL nitric and it started dissolving again. After another 20 minutes the reaction stopped and the solution was dark green. The pitures below show the results of where it is now. The leftover metal weighs 10 grams, the red material is from filtering the green solution and when I put copper in the solution there was no reaction at all. Any ideas on what happened or what kind of metal this is? It started out looking so good then I have no clue what happened! haha! Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks


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## goldenchild (May 3, 2012)

Cut it in half and post the cross section. Without any testing its anyones guess.


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## maynman1751 (May 3, 2012)

I'm thinking iron(steel) that was copper plated and then silver plated judging from the color in the filter. Often times weighted silver was 'constructed' that way.


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## butcher (May 3, 2012)

Yep looks like Iron rust to me.


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## kevinlco (May 4, 2012)

thanks for the input everyone! I cut the piece in half and it looks like steal, I double checked it with a magnet and its not magnetic. Maybe its cast or something. After leaving the copper in the solution for 24 hours I have a small amount of silver in the bottom but not much. Im going to look up the mix ratio for Stannous using the crystals so when I have that I will do some testing.


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## goldsilverpro (May 4, 2012)

Stannous doesn't work for silver. To test for silver in the solution, put 2 or 3 drops in a small beaker or test tube or whatever. Add a drop of weak muriatic acid or salt water. A white cloud indicates silver.

On a side note, a never-fail test for plated silver on an object. Is it or isn't it silver? Put a drop or 2 or 3 of 2/1, nitric/water solution on the silver plate. Pick a low spot, if you can, so the nitric won't just run off. Let it set for, say, 30 seconds. Add a drop of weak muriatic or salt water. A white cloud says that it is silver.


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## kevinlco (May 4, 2012)

Yeah I thought about that after I posted it! haha! Il try the muriatic with the green solution and see what happens. Still wonder why it acted like sterling so good till the very end and what was the 8 grams that was dissolved. At least this its a good learning experience! 8)


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