Silver Tarnish

7/31/2019 Silver Tarnish

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Silver & Silver Tarnish

Silver is a beautiful metal. Itsshine, beauty, luster and

attractiveness cannot be

replicated by any other metal. It is

used extensively globally for

making various items, fromjewelry to decorative items to

even silverware for home use.

Over the ages, silver and gold

have gained so much importance

that they have become objects of

desire.

Over a period of time,

you see its beauty

diminishing. You see

the discoloration of you

silver article and feeldisheartened and

distraught. This

discoloration, called

silver tarnish, is a

hindrance. Silver gets

very easily tarnished.


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How can silver tarnish?

O2(g) + 4Ag(s) + 2H2S(s)2Ag2S(s) + 2H2O(l)

Tarnish is formed on the surface of a silver object when silver reacts

with H2S in the air. The product, black silver sulfide, forms the coating

of tarnish on the silver.


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Cleaning Tarnished Silver Start with plain soap

and water. The first thingto do is to wash your

silverware or silver

jewelry with soap and

water to remove any dust

or oils from the surface.

You'll be removing the

tarnish by way of a mildchemical reaction, and

want to wash away

anything that might block

the tarnish from reacting.


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Cleaning Tarnished Silver

Prepare your equipment. The next step is toline a pan with aluminum foil and add enoughwater to completely cover the piece of silver youwant to clean. I used a relatively small pan

because I was cleaning jewelry, but this methodworks just as well for bigger pieces like plattersor kettles, as long as you have a large pot thatwill hold enough water to entirely submerge thepiece.


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Stir baking soda into the water in the pan. Acouple of tablespoons will suffice for small itemsin a small pan, but you may need as much as acup or two for large items in a gallon or more of

water. As the baking soda dissolves, turn on theburner underneath the pan and let the watercome to a boil.



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Add tarnished silver. As soon as the

water starts to boil, you can remove thepan from the heat and submerge thesilver in the hot water. Make sure thesilver is in direct contact with thealuminum foil. The whole process can

take several minutes, but it shouldnt belong before you start to see tiny yellowor black flakes in the water, or noticethat the aluminum foil is turning black.Whats happening is that the hot solutionof baking soda and water is separating

the sulfur from the silver and transferringit to the aluminum. This easy homemadetarnish remover takes advantage of thefact that sulfur is more chemicallyattracted to aluminum than silver.



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Use tongs to move the silverpieces around in the pan.You can even take it out of thesolution briefly to get a betterlook at your progress. Just be

gentle and avoid scratchingthe silver. Once the silver isclean, you should rinse it inclean water to remove anytraces of baking soda, then dry

it with a soft clean cloth. Youmay find that you can take offeven more tarnish by rubbingat any remaining dark spotswith the cloth.



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http://leahlefler.hubpages.com/video/How-to-Clean-Silver-with-Homemade-Tarnish-Remover-A-Video-Demonstration


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2Al (s) + 6Ag(s) + 3S(s) +6H2O(l)6Ag

(s) + 2Al (aq) + 6OH + 3H2S(g)

+ 2- 00

3+ -

This reaction is essentially the reverse of the reaction that forms tarnish. Here,

silver ions in the Ag2S tarnish are reduced to silver atoms, while aluminum

atoms in the foil are oxidized to aluminum ions. The tarnish-removing solution

usually includes baking soda to help remove any aluminum oxide coating thatforms and to make the cleaning solution more conductive.



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Thank you!!!

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Silver Tarnish