Jump to content

Potential hazards of silver nitrate

Featured Replies

It is 0.8 V for: Ag(+) + e --> Ag

It is 1.98 V for: Ag(2+) + e --> Ag(+)

 

You will never encounter Ag(2+) ions in your everyday life. This is exceedingly rare and only can be made by oxidation of silver with extreme oxidizers like ClF3, F2 or XeF6. Ordinary silver ions, such as in silver nitrate, are Ag(+) ions.

 

Ag(2+) ions are not stable in water, they oxidize water, forming oxygen gas. Ag(+) ions still are quite strong oxidizers, but not so strong that they oxidize water, but sufficiently strong to oxidize skin, paper, etc.

 

Redox potentials never are for a single compound, they are defined for the transition of one compound into another. So, it has no sense to tell something about the redox potential of e.g. silver metal. It does have sense to tell something about the redox potential of change of silver ion to silver metal.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

Configure browser push notifications

Chrome (Android)
  1. Tap the lock icon next to the address bar.
  2. Tap Permissions → Notifications.
  3. Adjust your preference.
Chrome (Desktop)
  1. Click the padlock icon in the address bar.
  2. Select Site settings.
  3. Find Notifications and adjust your preference.