First attempt at cementing silver

[Akragon]

I've seen it many times in videos and i found myself needing to see it in person. So i dissolved the piece circled in 50ml of Nitric. I know there was some copper in that blob of sterling. And perhaps some other junk that it sucked up in my crucible, because im dumb for using a clearly contaminated melt dish. I have a strip of copper which i will sand down. And im pretty sure the stuff in the bottom of that beaker isn't silver... it wouldn't dissolve but perhaps i didn't use enough nitric?

In any case i will remove it from the silver nitrate. I've seen some people dilute their solution, and some don't. And most heat the solution as well but some don't.

So i will rely on the excellent advice from my fellow forum members. This is only for educational experience. The outcome doesn't matter but i would prefer to get a result

Thanks in Advance

 

[Akragon]

Im guessing a lot of people are just shaking their heads in disappointment... admittedly i just jumped into this with the little time i had.... but when i went to filter said solution there were white crystals at the bottom!

any ideas on what that might be and why they formed?

 

[Yggdrasil]

Im guessing a lot of people are just shaking their heads in disappointment... admittedly i just jumped into this with the little time i had.... but when i went to filter said solution there were white crystals at the bottom!

any ideas on what that might be and why they formed?

Gloves, they are not meant to be ornamental you know.
They are supposed to be on your hands

On the other hand, your Copper do not look like Copper.
So can you walk us through step by step what you did?

 

[Akragon]

Gloves, they are not meant to be ornamental you know.
They are supposed to be on your hands

On the other hand, your Copper do not look like Copper.
So can you walk us through step by step what you did?

Yeah thats embarrassing... it was just for that pic though.
I pretty much outlined it in the OP... dissolved that blob of silver in Nitric, there was a bit of copper from my crucible absorbed into said blob... possibly some Borax... Most of it dissolved except that one piece, which went to pieces as soon as i touched the beaker. I did leave it outside, but it wasn't that cold out.

Said crystals dissolved with a bit of water...

 

[Yggdrasil]

Yeah thats embarrassing... it was just for that pic though.
I pretty much outlined it in the OP... dissolved that blob of silver in Nitric, there was a bit of copper from my crucible absorbed into said blob... possibly some Borax... Most of it dissolved except that one piece, which went to pieces as soon as i touched the beaker. I did leave it outside, but it wasn't that cold out.

Said crystals dissolved with a bit of water...

The original post was at best sketchy to what happened.
No information on if the black blob was from cementing or from residue.
Have you actually tried the cementing yet?

 

[Akragon]

The original post was at best sketchy to what happened.
No information on if the black blob was from cementing or from residue.
Have you actually tried the cementing yet?

No i haven't... the black blob was from dissolving the silver blob in nitric. That was what wouldn't dissolve.
And after filtering i had some white milky scum, which landed at the bottom which i assume is silver chloride.
i didn't want to screw up the whole thing... but i know silver chloride is a pain. And probably not good idea to try to cement out silver in a cloudy solution

 

[Yggdrasil]

No i haven't... the black blob was from dissolving the silver blob in nitric. That was what wouldn't dissolve.
And after filtering i had some white milky scum, which landed at the bottom which i assume is silver chloride.
i didn't want to screw up the whole thing... but i know silver chloride is a pain. And probably not good idea to try to cement out silver in a cloudy solution

No problem with Silver Chloride.
And if you used proper Nitric and not chlorinated water I do not think it is Silver Chloride.
There may be some Borax residue or metal oxides of sorts, just filter it out.
But the "Copper" you showed looked a bit fishy to me, might be the light though.
Find some proper Copper, cut up Copper pipe, bus bar or similar.

 

[Akragon]

No problem with Silver Chloride.
And if you used proper Nitric and not chlorinated water I do not think it is Silver Chloride.
There may be some Borax residue or metal oxides of sorts, just filter it out.
But the "Copper" you showed looked a bit fishy to me, might be the light though.
Find some proper Copper, cut up Copper pipe, bus bar or similar.

The copper is actually copper pipe. I cut in down the middle and flattened it out...

No problem with Silver Chloride.
And if you used proper Nitric and not chlorinated water I do not think it is Silver Chloride.
There may be some Borax residue or metal oxides of sorts, just filter it out.
But the "Copper" you showed looked a bit fishy to me, might be the light though.
Find some proper Copper, cut up Copper pipe, bus bar or similar.

That is copper pipe. Its just a small piece i cut and flattened. And my Nitric is from a Reputable chemical company. Perhaps the white is from Inadequate cleaning of the beaker or funnel before hand? Im still stumped on the crystals though... they looked like smokey glass... wish i got a picture.

Do you think i can still cement silver out here? I started with 50ml of just nitric, and im up to 100 with the bit of added water when i filtered

 

[Yggdrasil]

The copper is actually copper pipe. I cut in down the middle and flattened it out...

That is copper pipe. Its just a small piece i cut and flattened. And my Nitric is from a Reputable chemical company. Perhaps the white is from Inadequate cleaning of the beaker or funnel before hand? Im still stumped on the crystals though... they looked like smokey glass... wish i got a picture.

Do you think i can still cement silver out here? I started with 50ml of just nitric, and im up to 100 with the bit of added water when i filtered
View attachment 56282

As long as the Copper is Copper you can of course use it to cement, no problem.

 

[cejohnsonsr1]

Filter the solution and let everything that gets caught in the filter go either to your paper storage or stock pot. Then cement the solution on copper as usual. Did you use distilled water to digest the silver?

 

[Akragon]

Filter the solution and let everything that gets caught in the filter go either to your paper storage or stock pot. Then cement the solution on copper as usual. Did you use distilled water to digest the silver?

I used Reverse osmosis water...

 

[cejohnsonsr1]

Can’t say I know much about reverse osmosis, but if the water is chlorinated then it will produce at least some silver chloride, which will reduce the yield. You can recover it in the stock pot and process it in that run, so it’s not lost, but distilled water will eliminate the problem.

 

[Akragon]

Can’t say I know much about reverse osmosis, but if the water is chlorinated then it will produce at least some silver chloride, which will reduce the yield. You can recover it in the stock pot and process it in that run, so it’s not lost, but distilled water will eliminate the problem.

Theres no chlorine in RO water... its as close to pure as you can get as far as drinkable water is concerned

 

[Yggdrasil]

Theres no chlorine in RO water... its as close to pure as you can get as far as drinkable water is concerned

RO systems will remove 98% of Chlorine from Chlorinated water, so if one use chlorinated tap water as source, there will be a tiny amount left.
If one use a non chlorinated source like well water or similar it will be totally free of Chlorides.

 

[Akragon]

RO systems will remove 98% of Chlorine from Chlorinated water, so if one use chlorinated tap water as source, there will be a tiny amount left.
If one use a non chlorinated source like well water or similar it will be totally free of Chlorides.

I also boil it before using just to be sure...

I wouldn't call this a total success but im pretty happy!! That copper plate was mighty thin, so i believe i might have had too much nitric, or at least not diluted enough and some extra copper was eaten up while cementing.

There were little flakes of what i can only assume was copper as you can see... but im proud of my accomplishment here. The silver looks a little dark compared to what i've seen but i don't know.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

Theres no chlorine in RO water... its as close to pure as you can get as far as drinkable water is concerned

RO water is not necessarily safe to drink. The process removes anions and cations, but it doesn't remove biological contaminants.

Dave

 

[Akragon]

RO water is not necessarily safe to drink. The process removes anions and cations, but it doesn't remove biological contaminants.

Dave

well i would hope a place that strictly sells water 24/7 has safe drinking water...

 

[FrugalRefiner]

If they're selling RO water for drinking, they probably have another system in place for disinfection, like UV or something similar.

Dave

 

[Yggdrasil]

If they're selling RO water for drinking, they probably have another system in place for disinfection, like UV or something similar.

Dave

A proper set up RO system can make drinkable water from Sea Water.
But they are complex and expensive to run.
And they will run a series of Filters additionally.
It will not remove viruses and most bacteria, these can be removed with either Ozone or UV systems.
But if you use tap water there should not be any need for that, since it is already treated.

 

[cejohnsonsr1]

RO systems will remove 98% of Chlorine from Chlorinated water, so if one use chlorinated tap water as source, there will be a tiny amount left.
If one use a non chlorinated source like well water or similar it will be totally free of Chlorides.

That was the point I was trying to make. Any chlorine, no matter how much or little, is a contaminant in this context.