Can someone tell me what the differences are between adding salt VS adding hcl to a silver nitrate solution to make silver chloride? Mainly curious about yield, but I'm interested to know any other differences too.
Ether one (table salt or HCl) will precipitate silver chloride - for that matter any chloride will
As butcher pointed out it becomes a question of the byproduct you end up with after you precipitate the AgCl (depending on the chloride used)
As a matter of my personal experience I found that using HCl produced a heavier AgCl precipitate (larger participles) then table salt which made for better settling of the AgCl when washing out the acid so as a personal choice I used HCl
And on the same note, are there differences between adding sugar as opposed to adding Karo syrup,
There are two "
basic" types of sugar (though "
several" sugar chemical compositions in each type)
The (two) types are - reducing sugars - or - non-reducing sugars
The question being whether or not the carbon atoms in the sugar are available to act as a reducing agent - or not
Example(s) of reducing sugars are dextrose & fructose --- corn syrup can be ether dextrose or high fructose sugar depending on how it is made --- so the carbon atoms in the sugar are more available to act as a reducing agent
example of non-reducing sugar sucrose sugar --- table sugar (or cane sugar) is a sucrose sugar --- so the carbon atoms are less likely to act as a reducing agent
To put it in context --- when you use the salt/lye/sugar method --- you first add a chloride (salt) to make AgCl you then ad lye to convert the AgCl to AgO (silver oxide) you then add sugar to the AgO to reduce it to Ag (silver)
So --- although you MAY be able to reduce (some) AgO to Ag using table sugar it is likely the reduction will not be complete as it's reduction properties are less effective/efficient at reduction then corn syrup --- that can lead to loss of silver during melting if the melting conditions are not controlled (some of your silver can go up in smoke)
Therefor you should use corn syrup for reducing your AgO to Ag --- you will get more effective/efficient & complete reduction
For what it is worth --- some people suggest first dissolving there lye & sugar together then adding the lye/sugar to the AgCl thereby doing the conversion & reduction in one step & that's fine if you are doing "small" batches (a
few ozt) --- however - if you are working with larger batches (pounds) I do not recommend doing so
Why ?
Because your lye/sugar waste is going to be HIGH Ph (like Ph 13 - 14) --- high Ph waste is considered
hazardous waste & so needs to be adjusted to a Ph between 6 - 8 to be considered safe for disposal
The problem of adjusting the lye/sugar solution down in Ph is that around Ph 11 you start precipitating the sugar out of the lye --- it precipitates out as a VERY thick/heavy sugar foam that does not dissipate (foam does not go down) & does not separate (foam on top - liquid on bottom) the foam makes it impossible to filter --- before you reach Ph 8 (the high end of your target Ph adjustment) you will have a sugar foam so thick you can't stir it to finish adjustment & due to the foaming have 3 -4 times the volume you started with
It's one thing to dump a gallon or two of lye/sugar down the drain (without adjusting Ph) - its another thing doing it with larger volumes
Because of the above - the lye/sugar waste can not be used for adjusting the Ph of other acid waste solutions
So if you convert you AgCl to AgO with lye only - then wash the lye out - you can use that lye to adjust Ph of other acid waste --- then when you use the sugar only (the lye has been washed out) to reduce your AgO to Ag & you wash the sugar out you have only sugar water which can go down the drain
For what it is worth
Kurt