In a few words if I put 15 grams of silver nitrate powder in 250 ml distilled water will it start the cementation ?
precipitating silver with copper
- Thread starter GuyDeWhitney
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Let us back up a little.
You want to set up a Silver cell to refine Silver?
Then you need an Electrolyte with Silver Nitrate.
The size of the cell dictates how much electrolyte you need and then the concentration then tells how much in grams you need.
I believe 25 grams is way to little.
Then you need a feed stock which usually are fine Silver or Sterling that are in the form of shots or bar.
Then you need a Power source for your cell.
The electrolyte needs to be monitored and replenished form time to time and it need a bit of surplus Nitric to do that.
The cell also needs to be monitored and emptied from time to time to avoid the cell to short out.
How much material do you have to process?
Cementing is what you do when the cell is finished with its work and you need to rejuvenate the electrolyte.
silver nitrate crystal is highly soluble in water (distilled water) it takes about 1 ml of water to dissolve 2.22 grams of silver nitrate crystal. But from some of your statements you seem to be missing some essential facts that will make the entire process easier.
In light of 4Metals comment I want to ask a question.
Can you describe what you want to do and how you expect to do it?
At the moment I just want to create a solution that will start the silver cementation from copper , just to see if I can make it , this will be my very first attempt, by the way thank you for digging deep into it , do you think if I dissolve 25 grams of silver nitrate powder in 500ml of distilled water and I place a copper bar into the silver nitrate liquid solution , will it start the cementation ? Regarding the electrolyte for the silver cell I saw I very well explain video from sreetips on YouTube , he also did a video on how to make a silver nitrate from a silver bar to then use it as a solution to deep the copper and obtain the silver cement , I just didn’t want to get involve with dangerous yellow fumes ( it’s my very first time )
solubility of silver nitrate is 256 g/100 mL at (25 °C)
So maybe a 25 ml of distilled water in a 50 ml beaker would be ok
Just use a 1/4 inch to 1/2 copper coupling to cement out the silver
So maybe a 25 ml of distilled water in a 50 ml beaker would be ok
Just use a 1/4 inch to 1/2 copper coupling to cement out the silver
Thank you I only have 25 grams of silver nitrate powder
Dissolve it in water and add a little Nitric and you are ready to go.
But it will be a very expensive batch of Silver much cheaper to buy it already as metal.
Cementing is as told what you do when your electrolyte is to dirty to use any more and you need to restart.
Then you cement it and redissolve in Nitric.
Which is to little for anything else than experimenting.
The process of cementation on copper will proceed wether you have a lot of silver in solution or very little. Typically when recovering Silver from spent electrolyte the Silver concentration is around 30 to 40 grams per liter. If you are simply looking to cement the Silver don't make life too difficult by working with tiny volumes of solution. And don't try to cement on clean copper pipe, the Silver will also cement out on the inside of the pipe and it is hard to get it all out of the pipe. Flatten the pipe so it is more of a slab of copper.
Thank you , I have a copper bar ( at list as a first attempt I did choose the right one ) , but I will definitely follow your advise for the second try !! I ll probably buy a long AC copper pipe , cutting it into pieces and flattening the shape , and I will buy all the mask and safety equipment to prepare silver nitrate from scratch instead of buying it
Flatting it is more correct really some times I flatten some times I don’t , make sure it clean .
Good luck
Good luck
Thank you I will definitely follow the advise
When cementing on copper metal a slab is best because as it thins out you notice it and you can stop using it by the time little bits of coper break off and mix with your Silver metal. Copper pipe, being thinner, does not last as long. The copper in with your Silver metal doesn't hurt the cell but as it builds up it has to be removed or it will co-deposit and lower the purity of your Silver from the cell. A little copper in the cell actually helps the crystal structure grow. But since most cells today run on sterling Silver there is never a shortage of copper, so why let sloppy technique increase the copper content of your cement Silver when it doesn't have to?
