Q&A for How to Make Silver Nitrate

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How much nitric acid is needed to dissolve silver nitrate for removal?

Bess Ruff, MA
Environmental Scientist
Bess Ruff is a Geography PhD student at Florida State University. She received her MA in Environmental Science and Management from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2016. She has conducted survey work for marine spatial planning projects in the Caribbean and provided research support as a graduate fellow for the Sustainable Fisheries Group.

Bess Ruff, MA

Environmental Scientist

Expert Answer

This will depend on the size of the piece of silver you are using. You want to use just enough nitric acid to submerge the entire piece in the glass container.

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Question

How many ounces of silver nitrate can I make at home?

Community Answer

That depends on how much silver and how much nitric acid you have.

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How much silver nitrate is obtained by using 1 oz. pure silver?

Community Answer

You should expect about 44 grams of silver nitrate to be produced from 25 grams of silver.

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Is there any waste material from which one can prepare a silver nitrate in place of pure silver?

Community Answer

Some PCBs may contain silver, but keep in mind that given the amount of silver on them, the ridiculous yield you will likely get and the fact that PCBs often contain gold as well as silver (the former being usually what people buying broken PCBs look for and what drives the prices up), you'll need a lot of them and getting relatively pure silver nitrate could actually be harder, since both metals are soluble in nitric acid. If you want to do this, just buy some pieces of silverware, silver itself is not that expensive; I'd even venture to guess the most expensive item will turn out to be the nitric acid if you plan on making the nitrate on a small scale.

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Will I make acidic crystals when making silver nitrate?

Community Answer

No, aqueous solutions are neutral to pH 6 (pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Silver-nitrate#section=pH). Just make sure to evaporate all the nitric.

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How do I convert silver nitrate crystals to a liquid solution?

Community Answer

You can add water or glycerol or ethyl ether, as they all dissolve silver nitrate.

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