Tips on how to determine silver at home

Science in our modern age of technologyprogress does not stand still, as more and more new ways are being invented every day to turn it for the benefit of mankind as a whole and specific people in particular, including not the most clean in terms of relations with law and conscience - scammers who sell silver, silvered and made "silver" ornaments. In order not to become their victims, it is necessary to resort to the services of specialists or even to know how to determine silver at home. Our article will be devoted to this.

First you need to know the properties of the material itself, fromwhich produces women's and men's jewelry. Silver is a noble metal possessing properties of high thermal conductivity, it is well bent and not magnetized. Knowing this, you can suggest several ways how to determine silver at home:

1. jewelry, silver rings and cutlery easily adopt the warmth of the hand, and if part of the product is dipped in hot water, then very quickly it will become as hot as this water;
2. if you bring a magnet to the product of real silver, it will continue to lie in its place, since noble metals are not magnetizable;
3. the third method refers to a kind of extreme measures, which, unless absolutely necessary, it is better not to resort to - unlike a brass fake, a genuine silver product can be bent.

In addition, there are a number of other ways of how to determine silver at home, such as:

1. rub silver in their hands - if the product leaves traces, then it contains zinc, which indicates a low quality of metal;
2. scratch with a needle - if the silver slips, exposing the base of another metal, then you have a fake;
3. rub with chalk - after contact with real silver, the chalk begins to turn black (it works with silvered objects);
4. Anoint with sulfur ointment, sold in anypharmacy, - this silver when it comes in contact with sulfur darkens (as in the previous case, it can work even when the object is simply silvered). The color is restored after boiling the object in a solution of soda with a piece of aluminum foil;
5. drip with iodine - when it comes in contact with it, the silver turns black, and the higher the sample, the faster the reaction. Another thing is that such blackness can not be washed off afterwards;
6. check the chemical reaction - drop nitrogenacid, and then there to drip with a solution of table salt, as a result of which a curd precipitate of silver chloride should appear in the drop (viewed under a magnifying glass). If the precipitate is crystalline, then lead chloride is in front of us, and the object is a fake.

Some people are able to determine silver by smell, but now this method should be relied on less and less, because the aroma of this metal can be attached to the product flavor.

We examined several options for howDetermine silver at home, however, each of these methods allows a certain error, especially if they are applied by a layman. Therefore, to determine the quality and quality of silver, we advise you to contact a specialized jewelry store or pawnshop, where you will be given a precise answer to the question whether the product is silver, silver-plated or fake for a small fee.