Hello there
The short answer to your question is "yes."
Even if you have nothing more than an ozone air purifier in the house,
your silver will react to it.
"Ozone generators are not effective air cleaners and they may result
in long term exposures to ozone that are harmful to human health. And,
incidentally, if you have an ozone generator in the house and the
silver nick-nacks on the bookshelf turn black, don't be too ready to
blame the sulfur compounds from the paper mill. [Ozone readily
blackens silver]." - The quote from "Resource Centre for Occupational
Health and Safety Services - brackets mine: -
http://www.lakeheadu.ca/~lucas/rcohfq1.htm - the information about
ozone and silver is the last paragraph on the page.
One would presume the term "readily blackens" means that ozone is
quite effective at doing the job. The quote below also states that
silver is stable in pure air or even water, but blackens on exposure
to ozone. It would seem that the oxygen in pure air has no
tarnishing(or oxidizing)effect but the small quantities of ozone and
sulpher normally found in the air around us are the real culprits.
"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." - The quote from "Silver" -
brackets mine. - http://www.scescape.net/~woods/elements/silver.html -
You will find other interesting information about silver on this page.
You will also find that ozone is used deliberately for the purpose of
oxidizing metals for various reasons.
"Transition Metal – Mediated Oxidations with Ozone" -
http://www.uaf.edu/chem/Howard/402%20webs/Chapter%2030/30day2.htm -
lots of chemical formulation diagrams and graphs.
Search - Google
Terms - ozone +and silver, oxidation properties of ozone
If I may clarify anything, please ask before rating answer.
Cheers
digsalot |
Request for Answer Clarification by
warrenet-ga
on
08 Jun 2003 18:35 PDT
exposure to pure ozone would blacken silver, but including sulphur
would create other colors, i.e. blues, on the silver
|
Clarification of Answer by
digsalot-ga
on
08 Jun 2003 18:41 PDT
Thanks for the additional information. Since the question was
specific to ozone, I didn't bother with other types of reactions.
It sounds from what you said that certain controled oxidations could
create some very interesting(and perhaps beautiful)effects.
Exactly what is it you are wanting me to clarify? I'll give it a
shot.
cheers
digs
|
Request for Answer Clarification by
warrenet-ga
on
08 Jun 2003 19:20 PDT
I was just trying to find out what other chemicals would create nice
blues, purples, greens, etc. when exposed to the silver
|
Clarification of Answer by
digsalot-ga
on
08 Jun 2003 20:13 PDT
Hi again
The color property of silver oxide(tarnish)is to always be black.
There are a variety of colored silvers but the coloration is done with
various glazes, resins or other coatings and not part of the oxidizing
or tarnishing process.
Some decorative silver is deliberately oxidized in order to create
darkened backgrounds upon which polished silver highlights may be
displayed.
You can find out some more about silver here:
http://www.wolds-silver.freeuk.com/silver_properties_nojs.htm - "Wolds
Silver - Silver Matters.
It confirms that even silver tarnish created with sulphur compounds is
actually black. The chemical created when silver is tarnished by
sulpher is silver sulphide rather than silver oxide caused by ozone
oxidation. But the color of the compound is still black. A very thin
coating of it may appear as a blue but that is because the sulphide
coating may be only a few molecules in thickness and you are seeing
reflected light coming through it which refracts in the process. A
thicker coating will show as the usual black tarnish.
If you want colored silver, you will need to look at coatings rather
than at a deliberate tarnishing process.
Cheers
digs
|
Clarification of Answer by
digsalot-ga
on
08 Jun 2003 20:34 PDT
Something I thought of after I had answered the clarification. Since
the refracted or filtered color of the reflected light through a thin
layer of sulphur tarnish has a blue cast. It could very well be that
by carefully controling the amount of sulphur tarnish, you could
create a whole spectrum of blues.
You must realize, however, that this is only conjecture on my part.
Whether it would actually work or not is something that would have to
be experimented with.
digs
|
