Silver smoking a lot?

[ssharktu17]

Ok did my first run of sterling in some nitric. Put excess sterling in till it quit bubbling and fuming and finished with a nice blue solution strained out. When I add copper I got a lot of heat released and foaming good amount of yellow fumes. Is this normal? Was there still a lot of nitric in it or something? If so is my purity ruined?

 

[ssharktu17]

Well I was spinning the copper rod with my bare fingers and I guess it became copper nitrate. Major lesson there wear gloves entire time.

 

[adam mizer]

Thats silver nitrate on your fingers.
Its going to take a while to wear off.

 

[FrugalRefiner]

Thats silver nitrate on your fingers.
Its going to take a while to wear off.

Yep! The affected layer(s) of skin has to wear off.

Always wear gloves.

Dave

 

[ssharktu17]

How about the smoking? is that just part of the reaction? I figure the nitric acid is all gone but when I go to plate out the silver it smokes a lot, bubbled a good bit and got pretty hot.

 

[Yggdrasil]

How about the smoking? is that just part of the reaction? I figure the nitric acid is all gone but when I go to plate out the silver it smokes a lot, bubbled a good bit and got pretty hot.

There is an excess of Nitric. As the Silver cements out Copper Nitrate is formed, at the same time Copper is dissolved by the excess nitric and NOx gases are formed by both processes.

Why do you think there is no excess Nitric?

Edit to improve the language.

 

[snoman701]

So when I am dissolving silver, I weigh the silver, then submerge in a mass of water that is 1.5x that. To that, you will add 1.7grams of 67% Nitric acid for every gram of silver. A little more if you are dissolving sterling, but realistically, I decant first.

Simply said, it doesn't take much, but it takes time. My refining is soooo much better now that I don't stand over top of it.

 

[orvi]

So when I am dissolving silver, I weigh the silver, then submerge in a mass of water that is 1.5x that. To that, you will add 1.7grams of 67% Nitric acid for every gram of silver. A little more if you are dissolving sterling, but realistically, I decant first.

Simply said, it doesn't take much, but it takes time. My refining is soooo much better now that I don't stand over top of it.

I can relate. Mainly, after some time, you will get rid of novice "impatience" trying to force the chemistry, add more acids... A lot of unsuccessful operations can be linked to this.
Simply letting the reaction some more time can do wonders especially with nitric.

P.S.: Decant, then add fresh acid - this is way to go. It saves so much time.

 

[snoman701]

It is very useful to measure everything in grams. Like the above, I know the mass of my beaker, so when I decant, I can weigh what's left in the beaker by throwing the whole thing on the scale. Then I don't overadd acid to finish.

But, I've almost always got a silver beaker going, so I just leave a little metal in the bottom.

 

[ssharktu17]

So when I am dissolving silver, I weigh the silver, then submerge in a mass of water that is 1.5x that. To that, you will add 1.7grams of 67% Nitric acid for every gram of silver. A little more if you are dissolving sterling, but realistically, I decant first.

Simply said, it doesn't take much, but it takes time. My refining is soooo much better now that I don't stand over top of it.

Ideally I would do that but I am using some industrial cleaner acid where I dont actually know the strength because the label pealed off. I think it said something like 30-45% nitric at the time and the drum was sitting out for 2 years and had to be divided into smaller containers as it looked like it was breaking down. So Im not sure if it lost any strength over time. Well regardless it certainly did the job on dissolving sterling. Im sure when I have more time I can measure a specific amount of silver and nitric and determine an approximate strength after running a few small batches.

 

[snoman701]

You can figure it out pretty easy. Got a volumetric flask or even graduated cylinder? What's the density?

 

[ssharktu17]

You can figure it out pretty easy. Got a volumetric flask or even graduated cylinder? What's the density?

I think it is mixed with several other cleaners like anti foam agents and possibly sulfuric acid so that wont work.

 

[ssharktu17]

I cheated big time! I should have worn my gangrenous badge for lack of precautionary safety attire. However I just happened to have some potassium and iodine sitting on my table because I have an aquarium so I decided to give it a shot and it worked miraculously in 5 mins!

 

[Master Nater]

wow, that's pretty good results. is the cure less harmful to your body, than the problem?

 

[Yggdrasil]

wow, that's pretty good results. is the cure less harmful to your body, than the problem?

I think that depends if on the form of Iodine can be assimilated by the skin?
But the Silver stain is pretty benign, though quite apparent.
Which can actually serve as a reminder for the use of gloves.

 

[ssharktu17]

wow, that's pretty good results. is the cure less harmful to your body, than the problem?

well i wont be getting goiter anytime soon.
I wouldn’t say this silver nitrate is painless either. While it doesn’t hurt, it’s like a sunburn some with inflammation, burning and discomfort. Maybe because I had a higher dose and didn’t wash it off right away. The iodine treatment definitely soothed it big time.