I was wondering if you could answer a chemistry question that I have asked, and not gotten very definitive answers.
The subject is the making of collodial silver. You will see different kinds of collodial silver makers all over the internet, but basically they all work with basically the same setup.
The basic setup is a container of distilled water (nothing else), and a 'device' that consists of a battery or some electrical source, and two electrodes. Both electrodes are pure silver. You put the silver electrodes into the water, turn on the current, and wait. This creates a solution of "collodial silver", which is really supposed to be mostly ionic silver. The resultant solution can be anywhere from 3ppm to 20ppm.
What I was wondering is what is the chemical equation for this process, and what exactly is produced. Will the water contain anything but Ag+? how does this work with just water, silver, and electricity?
I have looked around a lot, and everything i find talks about adding something to the water, but nothing about what happens in electrolysis with just distilled water and silver electrodes.
here is a very popular generator, the silvergen:
http://www.silvergen.com/technica.htmhttp://www.silvergen.com/informat.htmI did find this, but it is kind of vague:
http://www.silver-colloids.com/Papers/IonsAtoms&ChargedParticles.PDF Various forms of silver Colloidal silver is generally produced by electrolysis when an
electric current is passed through a series circuit
consisting of a silver electrode and de-ionized (DI) water. The
current can be either alternating current (AC) or
direct current (DC). The current flow causes Ag0 (metal) and Ag+
(ions) to migrate from the electrode into the
DI water. AC processes tend to be more efficient than DC in limiting
the ionic concentration.
It is generally assumed that water ionizes to H+ and OH-, and that the H+, in the
form of the hydronium ion, H3O+, migrates to
the cathode, where it is reduced to hydrogen gas, H 2, which is
liberated. The electrons taken from the cathode
are replaced at the anode when Ag metal goes into solution as Ag+.
Therefore, colloidal silver consists of silver in two distinctly
different forms, metallic silver particles and ions.
The total amount of silver that is reported as the silver
concentration (in parts per million) is the sum total of the
silver contained in the particles and the silver contained in the
silver ions.
I guess what i'm asking is what is created at the anode and at the cathode, and will you end up with any compounds as well as silver ions and silver colloids? What are the equations for this particular process?
Thank you for any information you can give me to clear up this question.