# I think i got silver scammed



## noos (Feb 23, 2018)

I bought a silver bar the other day to dissolve to make tollens reagent. I wanted to silver some glass. I made my own hno3 by using sulfuric acid and kn03. I poured a bit of the sludge and some water on the bar hoping there would be a reaction. there was none except for a dark discoloration on the bar. I don't think this is silver becuase salt would have precipitated agcl and fall to the bottom when there was no white at all in the liquid. I bought this bar on 47th street in nyc,


----------



## g_axelsson (Feb 23, 2018)

Nitric acid made by the cold sulfuric acid method contains a lot of left over sulfates and isn't the best to use in silver chemistry. You probably created silver sulfate and the bar became passivated. Another thing is that concentrated nitric acid reacts slowly with silver, that is one reason why we recommend to use it diluted with at least 50% water.

Göran


----------



## rickbb (Feb 23, 2018)

That "sludge" you poured over the bar was not nitric acid, it was the leftovers from making your weak nitric. You're supposed to filter that out of the clear liquid, (which is the nitric), before using it.


----------



## Topher_osAUrus (Feb 24, 2018)

yeah, for silver, mickey mouse nitric will never do well.

it really needs to be distilled at least once before using it for any silver work.

I tried many many times, it just never gave favourable results, only more work to do


----------

