Silver

Silver, 47Ag
Silver
Appearancelustrous white metal
Standard atomic weight Ar°(Ag)
Silver in the periodic table
Hydrogen Helium
Lithium Beryllium Boron Carbon Nitrogen Oxygen Fluorine Neon
Sodium Magnesium Aluminium Silicon Phosphorus Sulfur Chlorine Argon
Potassium Calcium Scandium Titanium Vanadium Chromium Manganese Iron Cobalt Nickel Copper Zinc Gallium Germanium Arsenic Selenium Bromine Krypton
Rubidium Strontium Yttrium Zirconium Niobium Molybdenum Technetium Ruthenium Rhodium Palladium Cadmium Indium Tin Antimony Tellurium Iodine Xenon
Caesium Barium Lanthanum Cerium Praseodymium Neodymium Promethium Samarium Europium Gadolinium Terbium Dysprosium Holmium Erbium Thulium Ytterbium Lutetium Hafnium Tantalum Tungsten Rhenium Osmium Iridium Platinum Gold Mercury (element) Thallium Lead Bismuth Polonium Astatine Radon
Francium Radium Actinium Thorium Protactinium Uranium Neptunium Plutonium Americium Curium Berkelium Californium Einsteinium Fermium Mendelevium Nobelium Lawrencium Rutherfordium Dubnium Seaborgium Bohrium Hassium Meitnerium Darmstadtium Roentgenium Copernicium Nihonium Flerovium Moscovium Livermorium Tennessine Oganesson
Cu
↑
Ag
↓
Au
palladium ← silver → cadmium
Atomic number (Z)47
Groupgroup 11
Periodperiod 5
Block  d-block
Electron configuration[Kr] 4d10 5s1
Electrons per shell2, 8, 18, 18, 1
Physical properties
Phase at STPsolid
Melting point1234.93 K ​(961.78 °C, ​1763.2 °F)
Boiling point2435 K ​(2162 °C, ​3924 °F)
Density (at 20° C)10.503 g/cm3[3]
when liquid (at m.p.)9.320 g/cm3
Heat of fusion11.28 kJ/mol
Heat of vaporisation254 kJ/mol
Molar heat capacity25.350 J/(mol·K)
Vapour pressure
P (Pa) 1 10 100 1 k 10 k 100 k
at T (K) 1283 1413 1575 1782 2055 2433
Atomic properties
Oxidation statescommon: +1
−2,[4] −1,[5] 0,[6] +2,[7] +3[7]
ElectronegativityPauling scale: 1.93
Ionisation energies
  • 1st: 731.0 kJ/mol
  • 2nd: 2070 kJ/mol
  • 3rd: 3361 kJ/mol
Atomic radiusempirical: 144 pm
Covalent radius145±5 pm
Van der Waals radius172 pm
Spectral lines of silver
Other properties
Natural occurrenceprimordial
Crystal structure ​face-centred cubic (fcc) (cF4)
Lattice constant
a = 408.60 pm (at 20 °C)[3]
Thermal expansion18.92×10−6/K (at 20 °C)[3]
Thermal conductivity429 W/(m⋅K)
Thermal diffusivity174 mm2/s (at 300 K)
Electrical resistivity15.87 nΩ⋅m (at 20 °C)
Magnetic orderingdiamagnetic[8]
Molar magnetic susceptibility−19.5×10−6 cm3/mol (296 K)[9]
Young's modulus83 GPa
Shear modulus30 GPa
Bulk modulus100 GPa
Speed of sound thin rod2680 m/s (at r.t.)
Poisson ratio0.37
Mohs hardness2.5
Vickers hardness251 MPa
Brinell hardness206–250 MPa
CAS Number7440-22-4
History
Naminga non-Indo-European wanderwort
Discoverybefore 5000 BC
Symbol"Ag": from Latin argentum
Isotopes of silver
Main isotopes[10] Decay
abun­dance half-life (t1/2) mode pro­duct
105Ag synth 41.29 d ε 105Pd
106mAg synth 8.28 d ε 106Pd
107Ag 51.8% stable
108mAg synth 439 y ε 108Pd
IT 108Ag
109Ag 48.2% stable
110m2Ag synth 249.86 d β− 110Cd
111Ag synth 7.43 d β− 111Cd

Silver is a chemical element; it has symbol Ag (from Latin argentum 'silver') and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal.[11] Silver is found in the Earth's crust in the pure, free elemental form ("native silver"), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a byproduct of copper, gold, lead, and zinc refining.

Silver has long been valued as a precious metal, commonly sold and marketed beside gold and platinum. Silver metal is used in many bullion coins, sometimes alongside gold: while it is more abundant than gold, it is much less abundant as a native metal. Its purity is typically measured on a per-mille basis; a 94%-pure alloy is described as "0.940 fine". As one of the seven metals of antiquity, silver has had an enduring role in most human cultures. In terms of scarcity, silver is the most abundant of the big three precious metals—platinum, gold, and silver—among these, platinum is the rarest with around 139 troy ounces of silver mined for every one ounce of platinum.[12]

Other than in currency and as an investment medium (coins and bullion), silver is used in solar panels, water filtration, jewellery, ornaments, high-value tableware and utensils (hence the term "silverware"), in electrical contacts and conductors, in specialised mirrors, window coatings, in catalysis of chemical reactions, as a colorant in stained glass, and in specialised confectionery. Its compounds are used in photographic and X-ray film. Dilute solutions of silver nitrate and other silver compounds are used as disinfectants and microbiocides (oligodynamic effect), added to bandages, wound-dressings, catheters, and other medical instruments.

  1. ^ "Standard Atomic Weights: Silver". CIAAW. 1985.
  2. ^ Prohaska, Thomas; Irrgeher, Johanna; Benefield, Jacqueline; Böhlke, John K.; Chesson, Lesley A.; Coplen, Tyler B.; Ding, Tiping; Dunn, Philip J. H.; Gröning, Manfred; Holden, Norman E.; Meijer, Harro A. J. (4 May 2022). "Standard atomic weights of the elements 2021 (IUPAC Technical Report)". Pure and Applied Chemistry. doi:10.1515/pac-2019-0603. ISSN 1365-3075.
  3. ^ a b c Arblaster, John W. (2018). Selected Values of the Crystallographic Properties of Elements. Materials Park, Ohio: ASM International. ISBN 978-1-62708-155-9.
  4. ^ Ag(−2) have been observed as dimeric and monomeric anions in Ca5Ag3, (structure (Ca2+)5(Ag–Ag)4−Ag2−⋅4e−); see Changhoon Lee; Myung-Hwan Whangbo; Jürgen Köhler (2010). "Analysis of Electronic Structures and Chemical Bonding of Metal-rich Compounds. 2. Presence of Dimer (T–T)4– and Isolated T2– Anions in the Polar Intermetallic Cr5B3-Type Compounds AE5T3 (AE = Ca, Sr; T = Au, Ag, Hg, Cd, Zn)". Zeitschrift für Anorganische und Allgemeine Chemie. 636 (1): 36–40. doi:10.1002/zaac.200900421.
  5. ^ The Ag− ion has been observed in metal ammonia solutions: see Tran, N. E.; Lagowski, J. J. (2001). "Metal Ammonia Solutions: Solutions Containing Argentide Ions". Inorganic Chemistry. 40 (5): 1067–68. doi:10.1021/ic000333x.
  6. ^ Ag(0) has been observed in carbonyl complexes in low-temperature matrices: see McIntosh, D.; Ozin, G. A. (1976). "Synthesis using metal vapors. Silver carbonyls. Matrix infrared, ultraviolet-visible, and electron spin resonance spectra, structures, and bonding of silver tricarbonyl, silver dicarbonyl, silver monocarbonyl, and disilver hexacarbonyl". J. Am. Chem. Soc. 98 (11): 3167–75. Bibcode:1976JAChS..98.3167M. doi:10.1021/ja00427a018.
  7. ^ a b Greenwood, Norman N.; Earnshaw, Alan (1997). Chemistry of the Elements (2nd ed.). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 28. doi:10.1016/C2009-0-30414-6. ISBN 978-0-08-037941-8.
  8. ^ Lide, D. R., ed. (2005). "Magnetic susceptibility of the elements and inorganic compounds". CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (PDF) (86th ed.). Boca Raton (FL): CRC Press. ISBN 0-8493-0486-5.
  9. ^ Weast, Robert (1984). CRC, Handbook of Chemistry and Physics. Boca Raton, Florida: Chemical Rubber Company Publishing. pp. E110. ISBN 0-8493-0464-4.
  10. ^ Kondev, F. G.; Wang, M.; Huang, W. J.; Naimi, S.; Audi, G. (2021). "The NUBASE2020 evaluation of nuclear properties" (PDF). Chinese Physics C. 45 (3): 030001. doi:10.1088/1674-1137/abddae.
  11. ^ Poole, Charles P. Jr. (2004). "Silver". Encyclopedic Dictionary of Condensed Matter Physics. Academic Press. p. 1215. ISBN 978-0-08-054523-3.
  12. ^ "How Rare is Platinum? - APMEX". learn.apmex.com. 24 May 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2025.
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