Table of Contents
Symbol or Short Form of Silver
The short form of Silver is Ag.
Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag and looks like lustrous white metal. It has silver in its atomic number of 47. It is soft silver metal, obtained mostly from the mineral silver sulfide, AgS. Common silver compounds are silver nitrate and silver oxide.
Silver Background
Silver was first used by people around 5000 years ago. It is used because it does not rust or tarnish easily and also conducts electricity well. Since silver is a good conductor of heat and electricity, it has been used in some types of solder for joining metal components together since at least the 19th century. Silver metal is sometimes used in jewelry and silverware. Although silver usually forms part of alloy mixtures with palladium, silver is often used on its own.
About 4% of silver is mined each year, silver mining makes up about 40% of silver uses worldwide. Silver is the cheapest metal to produce but this always fluctuates so silver coins are rarely sold for more than their actual silver weight.
Silver does not react easily with oxygen or water which means that it can remain in the air without tarnishing, unlike other metals such as iron. Silver also has an extremely low coefficient of thermal expansion, which makes silver the best conductor at room temperature.
Silver Chemical Compounds
Chemical compounds are silver salts or silver metals themselves. Some silver compounds are soluble in water, while others are insoluble. All silver compounds have a bitter taste due to their silver ions having a +1 charge and being very poisonous.
Used to make jewelry, silverware, sterling silver hoop earrings, silver nails, silver dresser, and silver bullion.