Can sodium nitrate be used in the place of nitric acid ...

[Rizingfire]

I was making an electrolyte as instructed in lazersteve's videos to refine my sterling silver and I ran out of nitric acid before completely dissolving the 100g of silver needed for the electrolyte. It is about 30g off and while it is forming crystals on the negative plate, it isn't enough to make it worth the effort. I have more Nitric acid on the way but I also have sodium nitrate and I have read that in some processes it can be a sub for nitric acid. So if so I would like to use it as such to dissolve the remaining amount of silver to get my electrolyte to where it needs to be, so I can stop wasting batteries for nothing.

The other option is that I read that nitric acid is made from combining sodium nitrate and sulfuric acid, I could also do this if someone can tell me the process. I have some 80% sulfuric acid (I assume it will have to be watered down cuz the person I read used battery acid which is closer to 30% I believe) but anyway any help with this would be greatly appreciated. If I have to I will just wait til my nitric acid comes in but would rather spend that time refining my silver instead of waiting since I have about 1000g of sterling to refine. Thanks for any help in advance...

 

[Barren Realms 007]

Wait for your new nitric to come in. Your home made nitric can have clorides in it converting your silver to silver chloride and then you have a new problem to deal with.

 

[Rizingfire]

oh, ok. Thanks for the quick reply. Waiting it is then.