# Question about the electrolyte



## mikeinkaty (Jan 30, 2013)

Every day the electrolyte is getting more and more blue. Will the copper nitrate (?) buildup hinder my trying the drop the silver in it with copper when it can no longer function as an electrolyte??

Mike


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## Westerngs (Jan 30, 2013)

No. The copper concentration in the silver electrolyte will not be a problem later when trying to cement out the silver remaining in solution. The solubility of copper nitrate in water is great and it will be difficult for you to saturate the solution to the point where copper will not dissolve to cement out silver. 

You will need to watch the pH though, as the pH nears 3, you will start making copper oxide which will coat all over the copper metal and stop its dissolution. Try to keep the pH around 2.


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## mikeinkaty (Feb 2, 2013)

Westerngs said:


> No. The copper concentration in the silver electrolyte will not be a problem later when trying to cement out the silver remaining in solution. The solubility of copper nitrate in water is great and it will be difficult for you to saturate the solution to the point where copper will not dissolve to cement out silver.
> 
> You will need to watch the pH though, as the pH nears 3, you will start making copper oxide which will coat all over the copper metal and stop its dissolution. Try to keep the pH around 2.



That's good to know, but how do I measure the pH? Will a pH kit from Walmart work or from a pool company store? Oh yeah, everytime I add more bars to the cell I add distilled h2o to make up for the evaporation. Will that help keep the pH the same? 

Mike


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## butcher (Feb 2, 2013)

You can use the test solutions (used or sold at pool chemical suppliers) to test pH, many of the pH indicators require the pH solution t be added to the solution then you see a color change of solution as the pH indicator reacts with the solution, this can be troublesome to read sometimes if your metals solution is already colored heavily with metals.

pH test strips work better in these cases.

pH meter can be bought for around 60 to 80 dollars, spending this money seems like a lot, but the price is well worth it, these are easy to use, and are a very handy tool to have at your disposal, they pay for themselves easily.

You can buy supplies from pool or spa chemical stores they sell many of the chemicals we use, including pH test solution (Wal-Mart will be very limited in the pool chemicals they sell).

pH test supplies can also be ordered from many suppliers on line.

There are many different reagents used to test pH of solutions, they have many ranges they work in, many will only indicate a certain small range of pH, some are mixtures of reagents that test for larger ranges of pH.

You can even make some of your own pH test solution, (Google red cabbage pH).


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