While most of us are used to wearing silver jewellery there is much more to silver than just jewellery. Silver has been mined for at least 6,000 years and man learned to separate it from lead around 3,000 B.C. Of all the elements silver is the best conductor of heat, used in solar panels and heated rear windows. It’s also the best conductor of electricity and is used in electrical circuits, hearing aids and pacemakers. A silver mirror can reflect around 95% of the visible light spectrum and because of it’s optical properties is used for components in telescopes and microscopes. An ounce of silver can be drawn into 8,000 feet of thin wire and one grain can be made into a sheet 150 times thinner than a piece of paper. The major producers of this precious metal are the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Peru, Russia and Australia. More than two thirds of the silver produced is as a by product of lead, copper and zinc mining and a third of the metal produced is used in the photography industry. Silver has incredible bactericidal properties; it’s salts chemically affect the cell membranes of bacteria causing it to die. The bacteria also can not build up a resistance, as they do to many antibiotics.
So the next time you wear your silver jewellery, remember there is so much more to this wonderful white metal.
Silver Facts
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