Silver has a brilliant white metallic luster. It is a little harder than gold and is very ductile and malleable, being exceeded only by gold and perhaps palladium. Pure silver has the highest electrical and thermal conductivity of all metals, and possesses the lowest contact resistance. It is stable in pure air and water, but tarnishes when exposed to ozone, hydrogen sulfide, or air containing sulfur . Silver nitrate has wide application in painting, xerography, chemical electroplating, in compo nents for electric batteries and in medicine as catalyst. Silver chloride is another important compound, due to its ductility and malleability. The organic compounds of the element are used in the coating of several metals and in dynamite or other explosive bars. Metallic silver is used as a catalyst of several oxidation reactions such as those of ethanol and other alcohols. Silver is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.9999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder.  Silver is also used in various metal alloys (See AE Alloys).

Silver facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are

(click on an element)

Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such uses as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Silver is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.

Silver is a Block D, Group 11, Period 5 element. The electronic configuration is [Kr]4d¹⁰5s¹. In its elemental form silver's CAS number is 7440-22-4. The silver atom has a radius of 144.5.pm and it's Van der Waals radius is 144.pm.

All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology advantages. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Silver compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.

Silver was first discovered by Early Man.

Argent

Silber

Argento

Prata

Plata

Silver

Silver Abundance. The following table shows the abundance of silver and each of its naturally occurring isotopes on Earth along with the atomic mass for each isotope.