Silver Refining With Household Chemicals NO NITRIC

[@miriel2011]

The white precipitate is Ag2SO4, which is poorly soluble in water, but very soluble in concentrated H2SO4. As soon as you diluted the acid, the precipitate formed. That precipitate contains most of your silver. You can either try to dissolve it into a huge amount of water, or you can put about 500 ml of distilled water and NaCl and stirr. Because the Kps (solubility product constant, Ksp (AgCl) = 1.7 x10-10) of AgCl is much smaller than that of Ag2SO4 (1.2⋅10−5), an exchange will happen as the equilibrium is displaced to form 99.99% AgCl in the precipitate. You should be able to recover your silver after that...

[@KallePihlajasaari]

This looks like a good way of handling it. Just add the salt without decanting and let the alchemy do the work.

[@lukebaehr3851]

What would the happen if there was copper in that solution? How would you handle that?

[@rallyefilmer]

@@lukebaehr3851 There was copper in solution

[@rallyefilmer]

What about mixing the AgSO4 directly with NaOH and do the procedure like it was AgCl ?

[@sreetips]

That might work

[@DutchPhlogiston]

Interesting method, I had not thought of this approach before, thanks for sharing. . As a chemist, regarding the precipitate: I can think of two possibilities: (1) silver sulphate is actually only moderately soluble in water. (0.83 g/100 mL at 25 deg C, and only 1.33 g/100 mL at 10 deg C), and much more so in concentrated sulphuric acid. So: one possibility is that the white precipitate is silver sulphate that crashed out of solution when you diluted the sulphuric acid. In that case, your yield can be much improved by using (a lot) more water, so that all the silver sulphate stays in solution. I think this is what was meant in your textbook by 'a considerable amount' of water. Note also that without stirring, the dense sulphuric acid solution will tend to settle in a layer on the bottom, and stirring or swirling after adding all the sulphuric acid may cause the solutions to mix and heat up suddenly. I would advice stirring while pouring the sulphuric acid into the water. (2) Another possibility I can think of is that the precipitate is lead sulphate. It is soluble in concentrated sulphuric acid, but very insoluble in water or dilute sulphuric acid so it would crash out when you dilute the concentrated acid. However, I don't think lead is a common component of silver alloys, and the candleholder doesn't seem to contain many (if any) soldered joints, so the amount of precipitate you observed seems to be too much for it to be lead sulphate. So, my money is on hypothesis nr 1. Would be interesting if you could figure out what the precipitate is and let us know.

[@Jpw1776]

Is it Possible to do this same process with old PCB's?

[@sreetips]

Silver sulfate

[@BullProspecting]

I been watching you for many years!🙂 You Sir are the Bruce Lee of precious metal recovery💪🏅🏅🏅🏅🏅🏆 Thank you so much for all you do!🙏

[@HeadCannonPrime]

My favorite part is when he shows his lunch. You should have said, "I add in the 50 ml of dilute acetic acid to the 100 ml of olive oil, give it a good stir, and add it to my lunch". (acetic acid is vinegar) ps. I get the feeling he is subtly flexing on us by showing off his watch.

[@AppliedCryogenics]

I had to do a Google Lens search. Omega Constellation in yellow gold? Pfft. I'm not going to wear anything on my wrist that has a higher street price than my hand! Totally feel you about the lunch.

[@xmachine7003]

Flexing...😂😂😂😂

[@xmachine7003]

@@AppliedCryogenics Work in the cryogenic industry?

[@JustJeff62]

Learning more and more every day! Thank you! You know that silver bar being stamped "reetips" is a mint error. It will be rare and sought after one day. Just subscribed to tomoko's

[@cramsmith9677]

That was very cool! I don't know why it smoked so much when I just tried it... but it was an amazing amount of smoke. Totally overwhelmed my ventilation. Just a word of warning to everyone else! I don't know if my silver was that dirty, or the drain cleaner was that old... but it turned black as night and smoked for 2 hours. Then it went white as snow when I added it to the distilled water after cooling down. But 2 hours of nasty bad, very dangerous smoke... be warned! Thanks again Sreetips!

[@johnlintorn6768]

Did it work for you in the end?

[@MDVA44]

I’m glad you have made this video for us that don’t have a lot of access to nitric acid and all the equipment. Great video Streetips

[@snipersquad100]

But most of us who don't have access to nitric acid don't have access to sulphuric acid either.

[@sreetips]

John, the misdeeds of a few ruin it for the many. I bought the concentrated sulfuric acid drain opener over the counter at Ace Hardware. Same with the lye. Sugar and sea salt at the grocery store.

[@snipersquad100]

@@sreetips But I'm in the UK, you cant bye anything stronger then piss without a licence.

[@peterwilliams5631]

@@snipersquad100 Hi John, you can buy 96% Drain cleaner in the UK

[@snipersquad100]

@@peterwilliams5631 Where Peter?

[@LeonardoSpadetto]

Well Mr. Sreetips, as far as i know, the silver sulfate is little soluble in water, just like the silver chloride (maybe a bit more soluble than the second one). So, when you took a concentrated sulfuric solution and diluted it on distilled water, part of the silver sulfate precipitaded out.

[@TheBlessedMeek]

Was temperature not a factor as well?

[@iknklst]

I'd need a fume hood if I ate that many raw veggies at one time.

[@scottcampbell7944]

If you just get rid of the cheese you will be eating completely healthy.

[@DonnyHooterHoot]

@@scottcampbell7944 Uhuh sure!

[@AshRulzz]

This is the best comment ever

[@jpbonhomme5051]

Hey....long time no see. I've been sick lately, so I haven't had the energy to watch many videos that last more than a couple minutes. Your videos are so refreshing and honest. I can take seriously anything you say, because you keep a lot of BS out of your videos and stick to the subject. I love these videos, because you explain so well with being condescending or arrogant. Thank you so much for your hard work

[@sreetips]

Thank you

[@jpbonhomme5051]

@sreetips No thanks necessary. I think it's important to tell people how they impact you. I'm always trying to learn new things and I find your videos are a very effective tool to cut out the bloat and learn the important stuff. I've had such a difficult time focusing on any one thing because of my ADD and I find it extremely frustrating and depressing. When I need to understand a complicated chemical procedure, I want to cut to the chase, and so I turn to your videos. You are such an excellent teacher. It is a pleasure to learn from you. This is no fan boy crap, I thought it was important to let you know. I could die tomorrow for all I know

[@bocamint4937]

Typically I make a salad dressing from Acetic Acid, Sodium Chloride, Piperine and Oleic Acid. Use a 3:1 Ratio of Oleic to Acetic Acid, then Sodium Chloride and Piperine to taste. Yummy.

[@red_five1542]

Can this be done safely outdoors in an open area without ventilation? I do not have resources to build a lab with a ventilation system in my home. But I do have a back yard and a hot plate and a contractor grade extension cord. And I have some sterling pieces I would like to refine.🤔

[@sreetips]

No, too dangerous. I have impaired lung function and some blurry vision because I ignored warnings and did some refining in my back yard for about a year. Even if you approach the reaction from the up-wind, the eddy currents will wrap around your body and pull the fumes right at you. Holding your breath, turning and walking ten paces, when you finally breath, the fumes still get in your lungs, on your clothing, in your eyes and hair. The nitrogen dioxide combines with the moisture in the eyes and burns blurry vision into your eyeball lenses. There’s no way to safely do these reactions without a fume hood. And I would never recommend doing reactions in the back yard.

[@red_five1542]

@sreetips Thank you very much for taking the time to let me know🫡 The amount of silver I would recover is probably not worth the cost of the chemicals anyway.

[@aubreymarsh2309]

Great content as always! I thoroughly enjoy gaining hobbies and enjoy it even more when I can learn from others' mistakes! Thank you very much for putting your experience online!

[@robinpage2730]

The precipitate is silver sulfate. It's poorly soluble in cold water, about 8 g/100mL, goes way up in solubility to around 80 g/100mL in .10% molar sulfuric acid/water. Adding a small amount of sulfuric acid to the beaker and hearing it would have dissolved most of that white stuff.

[@sreetips]

Add a little sulfuric, I'll have to make a note of that thank you.

[@farajiali1687]

You are my teacher I most respect you, and God bless you. Thanks for this video.

[@sreetips]

Thank you. I’d like to develop this a little more to get a good yield. I think it can get just as good yield as nitric can. Just have to tweak it some.

[@ricksewardpumping431]

I keep watching your videos and I sure appreciate this. I'm so glad you put these out there. I'm learning a lot. I'll be doing it real soon.

[@craoun6116]

The precipitate you're getting might very well be silver sulfate, which is soluble in sufuric acid, but poorly soluble in water. That's why it came out of solution when you diluted the acid. You can turn the solid silver sulfate into silver oxide just by mixing it thoroughly with sodium hydroxide the same way you did with the silver chloride.

[@sreetips]

Really? I had no idea. I just did a video on getting the silver chloride from the sulfate. It's uploading right now. If that's the case then a totally new video is in order. I'll do side by side refinings of some sterling flatware. One in nitric and one in sulfuric. Max yield from both is the goal. Oh well.

[@craoun6116]

@@sreetips Very nice! I'm looking forward to seeing how it turned out!

[@jerrykingsley6703]

@@sreetips I am an amateur at best, but I immediately thought of what craoun said. My thinking was, the sulfuric was still 44 degrees c, when it hit the distilled water, the colder temperature combined with the fact it's water forced some silver out of solution.

[@johnlintorn6768]

2Ag + 2H2SO4 ---> Ag2SO4 + SO2 + 2H20 Ag2SO4 is hardly soluble in H20 at room temp. So that precipitate is going to be Ag2SO4. You need to heat to 100degC for a solubility of 1.33g /litre. You could thermally decompose the Silver Sulfate. Ag2SO4 + Heat ---> 2Ag + SO2 +O2

[@jerrykingsley6703]

@@johnlintorn6768 i am searching for a source that can teach me the chemistry behind everything. It seems what you said is what I said, just exhibiting a much greater understanding of the material. are there any books on the subject that you've read that you felt helped everything 'click' together? I would like to start a dialogue with you about a few roadblocks I have hit. If you are interested and can provide contact information, it would be greatly appreciated

[@glassofwater3767]

I really like the little things you do in your videos to show a personal side to all of the things you do. Keep it up, Sreetips!

[@goranaxelsson1409]

Solubility of silver sulfate is about 1 gram per 100 ml of water, 1.3 liter could hold about 10 grams which is consistent with the resulting button. Take the white salt that crashed out of the sulfuric acid and boil it in another liter of distilled water, then test it with some chloride salt. I think you will be surprised.

[@sreetips]

1.33g per 100ml at 100C. Thanks Goran, had to look it up. I figured some of the silver got hung up in that precipitate. Plus, it too is light sensitive.

[@Shad0wBoxxer]

I was wondering if it it was super saturated silver basically lol

[@buggsy5]

@@sreetips Yep, and only 0.96 grams at 40 degrees C. That precipitate is almost 100% silver sulfate., with probably a trace of copper sulfate. Copper sulfate has a much higher solubility in water, so very little of it will precipitate during the dilution step. It might be easier to just pour off the mixed metal solution and just dump it into your stock pot. You could then continue the processing with the almost pure silver sulfate precipitate.

[@MikeTuby]

the white precipitate is silver sulfate, which does not well disolve in water.

[@sreetips]

Got it, I'll redissolve it in sulfuric acid, then pour it into more water to get more of the silver. Thank you!

[@ambsquared]

Won’t sea salt have trace iodine in it? I would think kosher salt would be closer to being just NaCl.

[@1gixxer11]

The precipitate is silver sulphate powder. Silver sulphate is insoluble in water and the dilutuon of silver sulphate and sulfuric acid in water causes the silver sulphate to precipitate out somewhat.

[@iyziejane]

Thanks for showing your lunch (in addition to all the interesting chemistry as usual). One of the great things about the personality you show in these videos is that you exude personal discipline.

[@ryansimpson3074]

And discipline is key to achieving success.

[@Cdubb4728]

That’s silver sulfate falling out of solution. It’s solubility in cold/room temperature water is fairly low, no where near the solubility of silver nitrate. Bringing it back up to boil should bring all that back into solution, then while it’s hot is the time to do the chloride drop. If I remember correctly the solubility at 100 degrees C is about 1.5 grams per 100ml of water. Whereas in cold water it is about 0.4 or 0.5 grams per 100ml.

[@sreetips]

Video of this exact process uploading as I write.

[@anrchh]

Thank you sreetips. In norway its not legal to own nitric acid for privat use. I really wanted to try refining silver at home and you showed me a way. Cheers.

[@ericboatwright8893]

lol, so last year I played around with silver in nitric acid then winter came. I learned what happens when silver gets to cold when dissolved in nitric acid. I figured that sulfuric acid considering how hot it gets would give me a better result than it turning to silver Nitrate crystals,,,, I was wrong, lol, but it was fun and interesting figuring out how to fix it so now I’m done for the year till it’s warmer. Thanks sreetips!

[@jasonsummit1885]

Wish I could have learned metallurgical chemistry like this, guess it's not too late to start.😁

[@mikeconnery4652]

Yup never too late

[@youarerightthanksforadmitt846]

I agree! Need to go to the grocery store for some lunch supplies. Good video👍

[@davidbongni5715]

The white precipitate is silver sulfate, as the concentration of your solution was oversaturated👍🏻

[@jean-francoisavon62]

Yup. This is why the Hoke book said to dilute it in AMPLE quantity of water. Solubility in water 0.57 g/100 mL (0 °C) 0.69 g/100 mL (10 °C) 0.83 g/100 mL (25 °C) 0.96 g/100 mL (40 °C) 1.33 g/100 mL (100 °C)[2]

[@AirForce15A]

So your saying there was too much water used?

[@mcwolfbeast]

@@AirForce15A No... instead not enough water. the oversaturated solution when being poured into the water still resulted in a total amount of silver sulfate that was more than his 700-odd (and later 1200-odd) ml of distilled water could hold, so it precipitated out.

[@brandonmccullah710]

@Frank Roberts I thought he checked it for copper with 10% amonia is this an unreliable method to test for copper sulfate?

[@MichaelClark-uw7ex]

I was thinking the same, Silver sulfate is minimally soluble in water but highly soluble in concentrated Sulfuric acid so the solution was highly saturated.. When the acid solution was diluted, the excess Ag2SO4 crashed out of solution.

[@nikola96uf]

White precipitate when you dissolved silver in sulfuric acid is silver sulfate, it is slightly soluble in water. Silver hydrogen sulfate was soluble in sulfuric acid but when you diluted, equilibrium shifts and almost insoluble silver sulfate is formed so you technically discarded most of the silver.

[@jameseves9209]

So what would or could you do to prevent the silver sulfate

[@nikola96uf]

@@jameseves9209 Nothing. Simply do not use sulfuric acid. Use nitric acid and precipitate silver with copper metal. You can recycle both copper metal and nitric acid from Cu(NO3)2 byproduct with sulfuric acid and aluminum metal. Also, this way of getting silver from silver chloride is not very efficient. It's much better to put sodium hydroxide with silver solution to precipitate silver hydroxide which turns to oxide and then pure silver, when heated. But here you cannot do it because raw silver contains base metals like copper so hydroxide will be contaminated so best way is definitely precipitating Ag with Cu from AgNO3/Cu(NO3)2 mixture when you dissolve raw silver in nitric acid

[@betadoctor]

A man that owns a hard copy of Refining precious metal wastes by C.M Hoke is a hero IMHO.

[@Pyromonkey360]

calm morrison hoke? want a copy?

[@bencapobianco2045]

The only problem with the hard cover of that book is by the time you refine enough gold to afford it you won’t need it anymore

[@Pyromonkey360]

@@bencapobianco2045 a digital copy

[@simonstclare]

Back in the day, I used to work in a photographic mini lab. We were told that our depleted chemistry contained silver from all the 35mm films that had been through it. The value of that silver helped to pay for the processing of the used chemistry so it could be safely disposed of. It'd be great if you could make a video to show how much silver can be extracted from the chemistry and the process for doing it

[@sreetips]

I have a single video on recovery of silver from X-ray films posted on my channel.

[@donaldparlettjr3295]

Love the skull and crossbones on the sugar🤣🤣👍. As Mary Poppins says" a spoonful of sugar makes the silver fall down, the sugar fall down"

[@joerowland607]

Works with Karo syrup too.

[@ic_trab]

Probably has it on there so it is no longer considered "food grade" as it has been used in an environment where it can get contaminated.

[@dwaynelowery5808]

I gave a slight against you before but I retract it and praise you for your work helping new miners. Thank you

[@6980869]

Cool video REETIPS! Thanks for sharing that process with us. Aloha😉

[@SuperLaplander]

Thank you sir! That was a very nice video, maybe one of your best in my book. All the filming and editing you do for us, thanks once more.

[@999fine5]

This is a fantastic resource, thanks Sreetips, definately a thumbs up and saved to my refining playlist! Now if only there were a way to do something similar with gold... 🤔

[@TomokosEnterprize]

You sure come up with some great ideas. What a sweet wee bar.I must have had at least a dozen new subs mentioning you sent them today and a bunch over the last week since your last post. Thank you very much my dear friend.

[@sreetips]

Nice!

[@mikeeureka2171]

Oh man the lunch looks AWESOME! MAKING ME hungry!

[@jimcoppa6946]

You obviously live healthy may you have a long life I learn a lot from you this is a great Channel

[@sreetips]

Thank you!

[@damxgopak457]

Did you ever discover what the first strange precipitate was.thank you for your teachings I have studied hard and have my own lab now and am processing my gold from my lode claim I owe it to you.listen to this man if you want to learn how but you have to put in much effort and study.

[@sreetips]

Yes, it was silver sulfate. Just add hydrochloric to silver sulfate and it turns to silver chloride - like magic!

[@OceanSlim]

This is the most backyard chemist project I've ever seen. It's cool and all and a great learning experience but I really wouldn't trust that's anywhere close to 3 9's fine... and I certainly wouldn't go around telling other people it was after the loosest refinement process I've ever seen...

[@sreetips]

Three nines - I guarantee it because I refined it

[@BullProspecting]

Great work!! Your are hands down my favorite channel! I have literally tons of old misc electronics. I wanted to start processing stuff but I don't have a fume hood and I'm super freaked out with dealing with nitric acid. I have a liter if nitric but I have not used it yet due to not having a fume hood. I was thinking of building a tiny shed out in my backyard so I can turn it into a lab. The only thing is it get so cold in the winter months. I'm still a newbi but I'm trying really hard to be good so I want to make sure I have all my ducks in a row before continuing on. The other problem I'm having is because I'm not processing any old electronics so they keep piling up. I was wondering if by chance you could do a video to demonstrate an inexpensive way to get started?

[@sreetips]

I don’t process much electronics for precious metals. The yields are too low.

[@AshRulzz]

Those loafers are hella nice Mr. Tips

[@AshRulzz]

Those are my initials! A.K.

[@andrewgoodwin4771]

When you pulled out the book to show your facts is when you had me sold. Thanks for the video. im about to refine 13.8 pounds of silver plate. ill be refering to your video alot.

[@sreetips]

I didn’t use silver plated material, I did this experiment with solid sterling silver. If you use silver plated material then the yield will be very low. My guess is not even an ounce of silver from 13.8 pounds of silver plate. Plus, a lot of toxic sulfuric acid waste that must be treated prior to disposal. Hot sulfuric is very dangerous. It will burn a hole in your skin if any gets on you. One guy reported that it makes an open wound, very deep, that doesn’t heal well even after thinking all the acid was rinsed and washed away. The risk is too high to try this on silver plate. Especially if you’re new to this. Not a good place for a beginner to start.

[@mineralmammalprospecting]

This looks like one to try. Thank you! 👍🏻🍺

[@kieranodea771]

That white precipitate is silver sulfate ;). It tends to only wan't to dissolve in concentrated H2so4, once diluted with water the solubility goes down.

[@philouzlouis2042]

Too bad you didn't weight the initial amount of metal you started from. If you aim is to recover silver, you should keep the first white precipitate... what is mainly Ag2SO4. It is possible that Ag2SO4 is quite soluble into the concentrated H2SO4 by complexation or due to the lack of water, but crashes out of solution when dilluted. Copper sulfate remains soluble and this is observed all allong your process. To me the use of NaCl to make HCl via in situ reaction with H2SO4 and precipitation of AgCl is useless... You can start immediately from demi-water washed solid Ag2SO4 to the next step. Ag2SO4 (s) + 2 NaOH (aq) --> 2 AgOH (s) + Na2SO4 (aq) 2AgOH (s) --> Ag2O + H2O (via heating) C6H12O6 + Ag2O --> 2 Ag + C6H12O7 (gluconic acid as Na gluconate) (via heat and basic NaOH media). I hope this will help you increase the yield, efficiency and reduce the wastes. PHZ (PHILOU Zrealone)

[@parcydwr]

That is a good reply. I am trying to figure out a process where I can use easily available chemicals for recovering some silver plate. You say the copper sulphate remains soluble and this is observed all along your process. How is that being observed? In your method you say.... 2AgOH (s) --> Ag2O + H2O (via heating). Do you simply melt the solid with heat and the water comes off as water vapour? From reading your reaction I guess that is what the process is. I presume the silver oxide could then be added to the silver oxide he precipitated out from the rest of his solution before the conversion to silver metal so all of the silver is recovered. I am wondering if the sulphuric acid and silver reaction would work if the sulphuric acid was less concentrated? I have about 10 litres of sulphuric acid I recovered from scrap batteries and wondering if I can use it. I realised this morning I have a battery hydrometer so can measure its density and maybe give me a clue of its concentration.

[@philouzlouis2042]

@@parcydwr Hi Robert Smith, thank you. The Cu (copper sulfate - CuSO4.xH2O is blue like Cu(2+) what is dissolved ion (into water)... the dehydrated form is white and recolor blue as soon as it catches moisture from the air or liquid water). That color is observed into Sreetips video process into the collecting "recycling" drum. Copper is often joined to Silver to make harder and cheaper alloys. Silver and copper are two "precious" or "near precious" metals and they display a special property to have a high oxydation (électro-)potential... as such they oxydise their ion against glucose if hot and in presence of a base (oxydoredox potential can express in acidic (H(+)) media or basic (OH(-)) with different processes and results... In the present case copper sets a characteristic precipitate of Cu2O red (or sometimes a copper mirror) and silver a characteristic mirror or grey powder. In general aldehydes (reductible) can react to form the related acid... here gluconic acid. Ag(+) + 1e(-) --> Ag(0) (silver mirror or dust) Cu(2+) + 1e(-) --> Cu(1+) (like into Cu2O see Fehling test for sucrose/aldoses) Cu(1+) + 1e(-) --> Cu(0) HO-CH2-CHOH-CHOH-CHOH-CHOH-CH=O --> HO-CH2-CHOH-CHOH-CHOH-CHOH-C(=O)-OH (here only the aldehyd group is oxydised to a carboxylic one and it passes from +1 oxydation state to +3 oxydation state) The AgOH turns into Ag2O suspension/precipitate from "maturation" (concentration and heat of solution). Paradoxaly Ag2O is specifical as it is not wel linked to its oxygen and it will set it free upon heating to live "native" silver and pure oxygen... this happens also with Gold whose oxide is also unstable and even explosive (set O2 free explosively from heat). 2 Ag2O -heat-> 2 Ag2 + O2(g) I will reply a bit further/deeper later about the process of Sreetips soon. PHZ (PHILOU Zrealone from the Science Madness forum)

[@genehunsinger3981]

You have to wonder WHO was THE 1st one to figure out this process.Metal into a liquid with common items.Kinda makes you want to hit the yard sales.

[@sreetips]

Mrs sreetips bought $1500 worth of gold yesterday - for $485. People are clueless about gold. As long as they can keep gold price from spiking up we should be able to keep doing this. But when it gets away from them, and people begin to understand that the metal is worth more than the paper dollars, then we won’t be able to find it anymore - anywhere. A spike in gold price will put sreetips out of business!

[@sharonfreeman7047]

Hi! Just wondering - where did you come up with “Sreetips”? Love your videos! 👍

[@sreetips]

A variation of my last name (Peters) spelled backwards.

[@taino1642]

My girlfriend hears sweet ti#! Love the channel.

[@BBRDAKING]

@@sreetips tried this and my solution was black

[@jakestarr4718]

it is best to let it cool first for one main reason, pgm's can turn to sulphates and drop back out when it cools. Pgm sulphates can also precipitate upon dilution. I've experimented with this and its interesting. Pgm's will also drop out fully when adding sodium chloride. It can get complex very fast, but a great cheap way to remove base metals from a large bulk of material. Most interesting part is the copper will be attacked last if pgms are present, all noble metals seem to go up into solution first which yields some really clean pour offs early in the process. You say large amounts of waste, ehh depends on how crazy you get rinsing otherwise waste amount isn't so bad after you filter copper and other base metals off using iron, just don't forget your zinc and iron after neutralizing the acid. However you can recycle the acid if you're clever and it greatly reduces waste other than rinsing. i've found it to be a useful method as well to separate say rhodium from platinum or ruthenium from palladium.

[@JesusisLord-7A]

You need to do a chess set that one side is pure silver and the other is pure gold.

[@sreetips]

One side pure silver. The other side is 25% pure gold alloyed with 75% streling silver. Then encrusted with gem stones.

[@ut000bs]

@@sreetips The silver king weighs 10 troy oz. plus gems, etc. Gothic-style.

[@garfield12344]

Precipitate is PbSO4 which is insoluble, or water had Cl ions so AgCl maybe..., Or if Sn is present is SnO2...

[@WhatUpDawg]

7:13 you should melt that watch!

[@strykergames2195]

i agree :)

[@sreetips]

That's my new (really old) 14k automatic Omega Pie Pan that my wife found for me $100 at a sale. The Longines will go to my son-in-law Randy.

[@CoinSilver800]

I haven't watched the whole video yet so not sure if you've tried this but, if you take the precipitate that forms from pouring the solution into the distilled water and then place it in the sunlight for a few hours does it turn black/grey? if so it might be an indication that your distilled water isn't what it's advertised as and might indeed contain chlorine.

[@CoinSilver800]

I'm wondering if the white precipitate could possibly be zinc sulphate that is forming in the solution if it is less soluble in water than the silver sulphate is... if it were copper sulphate the precipitate would be blue... kind of hard to explain... I mean if zinc sulphate prefers to be a precipitate in a solution of distilled water compared to if it was still in the highly acidic sulphuric acid solution, and once it reaches a certain ratio of distilled water it self precipitates...

[@CoinSilver800]

OR it could be a Zinc Sulphide that is formed when Zinc Sulphide is in a solution that is added to water... Zinc Sulphide forms a white precipitate when added to water... If you take some of that white precipitate dry it out, and put it in a test tube then put the test tube over a Bunsen burner if it turns yellow that means it has zinc ions present

[@ProspectorTripp]

Sreetips.. This video really perked you up! Glad to see you enjoying your hobby at a joyful level again! Don’t make me worry 😉 ✌️PT

[@sreetips]

What really made me happy was doing the experiment before hand without that pesky camera looking over my shoulder. I think this made for a better video because I knew what to expect. Many of my videos are shot in the raw; you're seeing me do it for the first time ever with out any knowledge of what to expect.

[@Navschannel3908]

I'm pretty sure that the silver sulfate that is created during the dissolving in sulphuric acid, and when you add heat the sulfate sheds the sulfur molecule, and then when added back to distilled water, it absorbs the oxygen molecule, becoming a silver oxide, which in turn is heavier than water. Then settles out in the water, if you were to have set the solution aside for 48 hours or so, more silver would have made the chemical shift to oxide from sulfide, and slowly develop a sulfur oxide on the surface of the water.

[@robdawg1017]

Forget metal refining... 7:40 Sreetips in with that healthy diet flex!!

[@ChrisJ-mf7cj]

Brilliant. You just always amaze me and are entertaining at the same time as being a teacher of sorts.

[@RobertKennymore]

My guess for the white precipitate on crashing with water would be silver sulfate. Sterling is usually just silver and copper and the copper sulfate is probably pushing it out of solution as the temperature drops. Hope you didn't throw it out :)

[@sreetips]

Video on it uploading right now.

[@zarathean8758]

Thanks for the new book purchase

[@drewreavis5191]

I’m a chemistry graduate, and So the stuff that crashed out of solution was likely silver sulfate, silver sulfate is not very soluble in water, unless the water is super acidic. Upon dilution, you raised the pH, and crashed it out of solution

[@sreetips]

I solved it by not adding water. Instead I slowly added hydrochloric acid a little at a time directly to the silver sulfate solution. The chloride comes down immediately. Silver chloride is then rinsed with plenty of water to remove the acids. Then I convert the silver chloride to pure silver metal with lye and sugar. Welcome to my channel Drew. I almost failed the only chemistry class I ever took back in high school 50 years ago.

[@drewreavis5191]

@@sreetips that would make sense, as silver chloride has such a low solubility level, even extremely acidic solutions couldn’t solvate it. I love the channel, I actually found your channel through some hobby chemistry research. Anyway, if you ever have a chemistry question, comment, or concern, I’d love to help!

[@sreetips]

Excellent Drew, thank you

[@disgruntledtoons]

You can see the viscosity of the concentrated H2SO4.

[@sreetips]

It’s much thicker

[@sficlassic]

The white sediment could be zinc sulfate. Stirling silver is an alloy about 90 % silver and 10 % of copper, nickel or zinc. Possibly others. The blue/green is probably copper sulfate II I think.

[@sreetips]

Silver sulfate

[@KopytkoMiszcz]

Hello, will this method work on silver-plated brass?

[@sreetips]

No, there’s not enough silver on silver plate.

[@Newmath907]

Love your videos Sreetips! Thank you brother

[@olawlor]

XRF would give you a definitive answer, but that white precipitate has to be either (1) a contaminant in your sulfuric acid, or (2) a salt of one of the metals from your sterling, so a silver, copper, tin, etc sulfate / oxide/ hydrate. Likely contaminants in drain cleaner sulfuric acid include a corrosion inhibitor like Rhodine 31A, which can crash out when neutralized (you might try pouring a few mL of the acid into 10 mL of water and see if you get a similar precipitate volume). Silver sulfate is a white salt that is barely soluble in neutral water (1.3g/100mL at 100C), but it's light sensitive like silver nitrate, and the missing silver's mass would show up if you can get a yield on one of those runs. Most copper sulfates are vivid blue and highly soluble. Tin, nickel, cadmium, or zinc sulfates all seem too soluble (33g/100mL, 65g/100mL, 76g/100mL, and 57g/100mL respectively). A tin or zinc oxide seems like a possibility too, depending on the sterling.

[@sreetips]

It was silver sulfate.

[@Qwertypp10]

The white precipitate will be either AgSO4 or PbSO4, they both disolve in water weakly.

[@robinpage2730]

A shortcut I'm experimenting with right now is adding Spectricide stump remover (100% Potassium Nitrate) to the sulfuric acid solution and heating it. The mixture creates nitric acid in-situ and seems to dissolve the metal (copper and silver out of scrap jewelry) exactly like commercial nitric acid. So far, so good. We'll see how the potassium bisulfate follows the silver through the process and if it messes up the silver or gold. Perhaps you'd like to try this experiment with your setup.

[@xmachine7003]

How did your mixture work out? Did the silver come out clean or contaminated?

[@knowldedge5012]

how do you separate the silver from the rest after the "poorman's nitric" solution dissolve everything (copper, silver)

[@sreetips]

I’ve never tried this, but if it works and everything dissolves (have to filter out solids with a micro fiber glass filter due to sulfuric with dissolve a paper filter) then the silver can be precipitated by adding hydrochloric acid (carefully because it reacts violently with sulfuric) to precipitate out the silver chloride. Then the silver chloride can be converted to pure silver with lye and sugar.

[@knowldedge5012]

@@sreetips it should work with sulfuric and potassium nitrate for the dissolving phase? By the way amazing salad.

[@sreetips]

I don’t know because I’ve never tried it.

[@timbossch8807]

Love your hat mate. I was on Patrol Boats for 8 years.

[@sreetips]

I served on two destroyers and a fast frigate. The Navy was good to me. And I to it.

[@WildBearFoot]

There were a lot of people asking about doing this in their backyard because fume hoods are cost prohibitive, my question is could you use some kind of gas mask? Would military surplus work? Like full face and eye protection.

[@sreetips]

No, doing these reactions without a fume hood is too dangerous. I ignored this when I first started and did reactions in my back yard. I now have impaired vision (from acid fumes reaction with eye tissues), and reduced lung function. If you approach the reaction upwind the air currents will wrap around your body and pull the fumes right into your face. Even holding your breath and walking ten paces, the fumes still get in your lungs, in your eyes, hair, clothes, and on your skin. There’s no way to safely do these reactions without a fume hood.

[@wadebert4458]

Well, I gave this refining processes a go. I also ended up with ALLOT of Silver Sulfate. Also of note, in the bottom of the beaker with boiling Sulfuric Acid and Silver, a black cement formed, that cemented a stir bar fast to the bottom of the beaker. I had to use some heavy duty, needle nose pliers to break it up. My solution is cooled and settling over night. The "Silver Cell", your engineering, is Percolating really well. I just started it this afternoon and I already have a really nice accumulation of Silver Crystal's forming on the Cathode! Completely Awesome. The black, very dense, cement that formed, will fill my burn cup, probably 4 times, altogether. I figured that I'd melt it into metal, and, then test it, to see what in creation it is. I did notice a redish blush, in the Sulfuric Acid I used, that was not present in yours. Maybe an, "Unknown" chemical slipped in. I used pure Sulfuric Acid, so I really am a little stumped. I'll burn it tomorrow and let you know what I've got. Another good purchase, on another flatware set today. Sterling Silver. This time it was a bit more dear, to the tune of 2K. Worth it though. A little over 10 pounds, English Standard weight. My digital scales haven't arrived yet. The only thing that is a pain, with both sets, recently purchased. The blades on the knives, cake server and butter knife, all have Stainless blades and the tang of the blade, running up into the handle! What a pain! Great Grandma's are completely Sterling Silver, even the blades. Lost a bit of weight there; but, still worth it. Your presentation of the face value of a quarter versus it value in the Silver it was made from, really reverberated! That is a very good method for the explanation of the value of Precious Metals against our printed currency. With this current administration.... Woops! Sorry! We don't do "Politics"! You have a pleasant evening. Thank you again for reigning, dormant grey matter, that is now crunching equations again! It feels great and is fun and is, (with the element of possible catastrophic disaster, explosions and other neat stuff), really exciting! Wade

[@sreetips]

Can’t go wrong converting your paper to silver, my opinion.

[@wadebert4458]

@@sreetips Your opinion counts in my family!

[@wadebert4458]

Still don't know what the original black cement is. 3 Map gas torches and the cutting head on my OXYACETALYNE rig. Just won't melt! Incredible! So much heat was being produced, it warped my ¼ inch Steel burn table! Going to add a 2nd OXYACETALYNE torch to what I've already tried. If that doesn't melt it, I'll try the Kiln....... Never had the Kiln as hot as all the gas torchs combined, produced. One way or another, it's going to melt, (Or I'll go out in a BLAZE OF GLORY)!...... Well, hopefully not. Guessing that I'll find out!

[@professortrog7742]

Judging from the color there might be more other metals in the bar then you may suspect. An xrf test would be a nice way to find out for sure.

[@tommystrickland6312]

If the sulfuric wasn't purified that powder layer is the buffers drain cleaner has in it to protect pipes.

[@darianballard2074]

Only way to know for sure what precipitated out at time stamp 13:16 would be to know exactly what other than silver was alloyed in that lamp. You could also send samples off to have them run through electron spectroscopy.

[@sreetips]

New video uploading right now. You'll be amazed when you see how much silver is in that precipitate. I was.

[@darianballard2074]

@@sreetips Very cool. It looked like silver sulfate more than copper sulfate pentahydrate. You may have just needed more water as you could have reached saturation.

[@sreetips]

In the new video I dissolve the sulfate in boiling water then add salt as it boils to form the chloride. Worked like a charm but was speechless when I seen how much chloride there was. The sulfate ties up a whole bunch of silver. More than half the expected yield.

[@riderofthewhitehorse]

Great video with close-ups and details. I love watching you produce 999 fine silver.

[@buggsy5]

The problem with dumping the sea salt in without dissolving in water first is that it will also force precipitation of some of the copper sulfate. Also, once the silver chloride is precipitated, you should test the blue liquid to make sure all the silver has been precipitated.

[@sreetips]

I changed the process. I got a way better yield.

[@harutyunharutyunyan8568]

I don `t understand english. I understand correctly, you dissolved silver in concentrated sulfuric acid just by heating the acid ??

[@sreetips]

Correct

[@Dealazer]

I believe the Silver is on the bottom at when you poured the silver nitrate and copper nitrate into distilled water. Since it's more heavy weight than copper and water. When molecule weight is higher than 100. The molecules as Silver of 107 are heavy weighting. Copper will just float in the water. The ending result gets blue color as only copper. But as copper and silver in nearly same is like the same as green and blue. But silver in bottom make only copper look blueish, when copper is green with Silver. But both can make either what they represent. So green solution has more likely copper and silver. But both can be sometimes either blue or green. But what Silver acts as color is gray. As in the second solution with the mixer. You don't know it before you pour copper and silver which is used as alloy together. There is actual strange difference in the color blue and green. Both don't make yellow color. But they make their dark green and dark black blue which in logic can't make yellow. But as soon it either is blue or green dark. Having only darker colors. You should try as well to find out easiest way for copper refining. Many people would be interested in 100% output refining. You nearly where there. So best solution is really to take out the water of blue into other compartment. As silver lies in the bottom. What you had when you first dissolved with sulfuric acid was platina and in the bottom as very darkish collection. Might as well be titanium or other metals as gold. But palladium is clearly short the same molecule weight. Since nature make palladium first as halving to Silver. If there is no escape of energy palladium stays in the mountain. It is short lived. The molecule weight represents important information. I believe you know much. But you might not know everything yet?

[@verniehellmann6298]

So I had white precipitate drop out after using sulphuric acid Roto drain cleaner to dissolve a sterling silver spoon. I saw the comments on it was silver sulphate, so I added it to boiling water and no dissolve happens, so I drained the water and let dry. Then I added sulphuric acid and still did not dissolve. When dry it has reflective shiny crystal glitter in it like a diamond. Any thoughts on this?

[@sreetips]

Hot sulfuric should dissolve silver sulfate. Then I let it cool, and slowly add hydrochloric directly to the silver sulfate solution. It spatters and creates much heat so best to do it in an over sized beaker.

[@jonnymakeschemicals2714]

Its silver sulfate witch in water is insoluble, but when in a highly concentrated solution of sulfuric acid probably of 98% or higher the silver will react and dissolve since there is almost no water present. then when you poured that solution into the water the silver sulfate crashed out because the ph becomes to high for it to remain dissolved.

[@sreetips]

I solved it by pouring in hydrochloric acid instead of water. It immediately forms silver chloride and I avoid the silver sulfate formation

[@cadenjohnson4114]

I do believe I’ve added tooo much lye, when I added sugar nothing turned, not it’s just a black liquid. I’m assuming I’ll have to restart and cook it in nitric acid again?

[@gyvren]

Sreetips keepin healthy! Lunch looks good! Lots of fiber. 😉👍

[@1kreature]

I have a fun challenge for you. High purity Bismuth! Many places that sell Bismuth seem to claim 4 or even 5 9's but if you try and grow bismuth crystals they may either never form properly or be gray and dull in luster. I tried this myself and so far it seems electrolysis is an option but it is soooo slow.

[@sreetips]

Sorry, I don’t know anything about bismuth.

[@ricksewardpumping431]

Well, now I know why your silver electrolytes are blue colored keep learning I keep learning I love it

[@macfixer01]

The white precipitate has to be silver sulfate. It’s considered only slightly soluble in water (only 0.96G/100ml @40C). So if you didn’t further refine the precipitate then you didn’t recover all of the silver.

[@sreetips]

Quite correct

[@kaball6545]

When I was doing this, after I put the acid into the water I left it for a few days and I built up a thick layer of that precipitate

[@PbChemist]

You could try pouring the warm conc. Sulfuric acid/silver sulfate solution into warm distilled water to keep more of the silver in solution.

[@sreetips]

I was thinking collect the silver sulfate, dissolve in boiling water, then add salt to the boiling solution to precipitate the silver chloride

[@PbChemist]

@@sreetips yeah good idea

[@sreetips]

I did it, video uploading right now. You won't believe how much silver was tied up in the sulfate.

[@sreetips]

But then someone has told me that the silver sulfate can be converted to silver oxide with lye just like silver chloride. Then to metal with sugar.

[@PbChemist]

@@sreetips i was wondering that myself. The conversion of sulfate to oxide probably goes faster than chloride due to the slightly more soluble sulfate. Maybe not, but it doesnt surprise me at all that the sulfate can also be converted with the lye/sugar method

[@ericboatwright8893]

Strange experience!!! Refining 800 silver and what you get from 925 and impure silver was different. You don’t get the silver chlorite affect when you add the sea salt. It turns to silver hydroxide color straight away, I still added the lye then the sugar.

[@sreetips]

Sometimes pieces marked 800 are plated with 800 silver. Base metal under.

[@knowldedge5012]

if I dissolve silver contacts with their supports made of brass or other metals would the sulphuric dissolve only silver?

[@sreetips]

No, sulfuric acid will dissolve copper and zinc. Brass is an alloy of roughly 85% copper and 15% zinc. So it should all dissolve eventually. But it will take much heat. Then, the silver can be selectively precipitated out as silver chloride with either hydrochloric acid or sodium chloride (salt) solution.

[@dynomania]

Hello Sreetips I think if you added some Potassium Nitrate (Stump Remover) to the solution it will work a lot like Nitric acid. I tried it once before sourcing Nitric and it worked pretty well.

[@sreetips]

Poor man’s aqua regia - I’ve never tried it.

[@dynomania]

@@sreetips time for a video perhaps 😇

[@rudycorona6964]

very nice!!! shiny..... you got a lot really right if it was just that candle holder.

[@IronBridge1781]

Starting my metal refining journey with help from this video, wish me luck in my eBay endeavours!

[@sreetips]

Start small to get the feel for it. Resist the urge to go all in with a hundred grams of karat gold. Instead start with just five grams to see how it goes.

[@IronBridge1781]

@@sreetips Will do, thanks for the advice.

[@edwardschuette5886]

I have a the spectricide stump killer you showed obviously can't precipitate the gold out of solution but because it contains potassium nitrate can it be used to make concentrate nitric acid

[@sreetips]

Correct

[@ewastegold6619]

That precipitate may be one of the Copper Chlorides. Sterling contains Copper, possibly Lead. There is a 999 Dusan video where he shows that one of the Copper Chlorides is soluble in concentrated acid, but merely diluting the acid, (greatly), with distilled Water, caused the Copper Chloride to precipitate out because that compound is much less soluble in dilute acid. Its solubility probably drops off logarithmicaly with the decrease in concentration. In the video by Dusan, the Copper compound was white, or very white-ish. Any Lead in there might exhibit a similar behavior.

[@sreetips]

I've already determined that it's silver sulfate. And that it can be converted to silver oxide with lye just like silver chloride. Bummer. I just made a new video showing how to get the chloride from the sulfate. Obsolete before it even gets published.

[@warrenwhitney4865]

well fist things first, i am far rom being a chemist. i do however like to research stuff before trying them out ( a very safe practice), was curious if the use of a burner instead of the hot plate would ignite the hydrogen gas produced or is the gas to air ratio to low? probably a stupid question but i feel since its on youtube there are those like myself that may alter parts and put themselves in danger.

[@sreetips]

I don’t know.

[@brianlutzak]

because of the improper stamping it now has numismatic value and is actually worth more ;)

[@MrYkcub]

Sreetips, how would you go about dissolving the magnetite leftover from the shaker table of an Alaska placer operation? A friend of mine has brought me a bucket of his black sands and I have had some luck using HCL and HP, to dissolve the base metals and then HCL and Clorox to dissolve the gold, and then precipitate with SMB. But, some of this material seems to be saturating the solution with Iron after crushing it to -20. It turns deep rust and when filtering, it plugs the filter with a sludge which is still somewhat magnetic. Do you know of any good way to dissolve the iron here so I can get at the good stuff? I see pretty good gold with a 60-100 power magnifying scope. I have avoided using Nitric Acid but was wondering if Geo's poor-mans Nitric acid/ Sulfuric acid process, (seen elsewhere on youtube), would be applicable. Maybe you could try a video on this.

[@sreetips]

Dwight, I don't have much experience with this kind of material. But from what I understand you have very fine gold in black sand. If that's the case then I'd try a chlorine leach. If it were mine I'd put a small sample of the material in a bucket and add some HCl and bleach and let it sit for a week or so, adding small shots of bleach every day. Then check it with stannous and see what I get. If it were mine.

[@speedonz]

Good to see some fresh content. I believe the white precipitate was just some silver sulfate dropping out of solution after you had lowered the ph by adding water. You may need to use more acid, dilute less or simply drop the chloride out before dilution. It should redissolve in hot water tho allowing you to convert the rest.. Id be interested to see if it works with diluted sulphuric or with drain cleaner containing inhibitors as this is what the public can buy in the UK (where Nitric is hard to source).

[@sreetips]

I think sulfuric can be concentrated by boiling, but I've never tried it. I tried dilute sulfuric on some cement silver once and it did not do well. That's what struck me when I read the book. I had never tried concentrated sulfuric, only dilute and it was a bust. But as you can see, sure enough, hot concentrated sulfuric will dissolve silver. I had people who find it difficult to get nitric in mind when I did this experiment.

[@ChildersCastingandRefining]

Instead of buying lye, do you know if it is possible to make lye from firewood ashes and use it to convert the Silver Chloride?

[@sreetips]

I’ve never done it

[@ogbullion]

Nice one! In my country 98% sulphuric acid is not available so i stick to the 38% nitric acid that available in "grow shops". The silver purity is same with sulphuric acid than nitric acid method ? (Both with chloride not copper) sorry for bad english🙂

[@sreetips]

The junk rinsed out of the sulfuric batch very easily. The drawback is the silver sulfate that precipitates when poured into the water.