Why does silver turn yellow and what to do about it?

Acquaintance of man with silver dates back millennia: noble metal was mined and used in states that existed before BC. e. And today, silver is widely used in industry, medicine, for the manufacture of jewelry. Silver metal products look elegant and sophisticated. Unfortunately, they can be covered with an ugly yellow coating.

Silver belongs to the group of noble metals, which are known for practically not reacting with other elements of the periodic table. However, this is the most unstable precious metal. Interacting with the environment, in contact with the human body and various objects, silver is exposed to certain chemical elements and, as a result, darkens. This is a slow process, which is somewhat accelerated in conditions of high humidity, at high temperatures, under the influence of light.

In conditions of perfectly clean air, nothing would happen to silver. But in reality, many compounds and substances are always present in the air. Sulfur is no exception.

One of its sources is human activity. For example, sulfur dioxide is formed during the combustion of coal, in the process of industrial enterprises. The element is widely used in fertilizers, in medical preparations. In addition, it is present in many food products, in animals and plant organisms, in household items surrounding us. And this means that a small concentration of the compounds of the element is always present, and we cannot exclude the interaction of substances.As a result, silver turns yellow.

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of sulfur for the life of the human body. Especially a lot of it in muscle tissue, in the skin. And it is also known that there are many sweat glands on the human body, the discharge through which occurs constantly. Among other products, sulfate compounds are removed along with sweat. Therefore, do not be surprised that after prolonged wearing on your finger the ring has become copper in color, and jewelry that comes in contact with the body (chains, earrings, pendants, bracelets) begins to turn yellow. The process is accelerated if jewelry comes in contact with silver-aggressive household chemicals and cosmetics.

Silver turns yellow under the influence of bromine or iodine. These elements are also present in many products, medicines. Bromine is used in the manufacture of dyes for fabrics. There is another unpleasant reason why the products may turn yellow: you purchased a fake made of cheap metals that look like silver. Such metals oxidize rather quickly and change color. Or a silver-plated product, a thin layer of precious metal is thinned and worn away during wear. In this case, yellowish spots will appear on the decoration.

Of course, if you have a fake decoration, no cleaning method will give the product a silver color. Even if you manage to remove the oxide film layer, the yellowness will very quickly return again. There are ways to deal with the annoying problem of silver. First of all, you can contact the jewelry workshop, where the master will perform the procedure professionally.

You can clean the product from yellowness at home. Best to do it using special tools. A large number of them are offered by modern industry. The compositions are purposefully designed for cleaning precious metal products.

Among them are both universal solutions, and designed specifically for silver products. Popular are domestic products. Talisman, Aladdin, Adamas, Shine Coins, German paste Silberpflege Centralin and many others. They help not only to effectively cleanse from yellowness, but also return the silver shine to things. It is important not to exceed the exposure time of things in the solution. Detailed instructions are usually found on the packaging or label of the product.

If for some reason it didn’t work, you’ll be able to purchase the finished product, you can try to remove plaque using improvised means. For example, in every house there is soda; cheap goods are easy to purchase at any grocery store. Of soda and water you need to cook the gruel, and then rub it with the product. And also can be made in small capacity hot solution of 1-2 tablespoons of soda and 500 ml of water, put foil on the bottom of the container and lower it into water product for a few minutes. The product extracted from the soda solution is washed in warm water and wiped dry with a soft cloth.

Another product available is toothpaste or powder. They are applied to a soft toothbrush and gently clean silver items. Then the products are rinsed in running water and wiped dry.

To brighten highly contaminated surfaces, you can use ammonia. Two tablespoons are bred in 1 liter of water. The product is lowered into the resulting solution and incubated for about 15 minutes.Then the product is removed and the darkening is removed using a paper towel.

The natural desire of any owner of silver products is to keep their presentable appearance as long as possible. To do this, they must be properly looked after and not ignored by the advice of specialists. First of all, things need store appropriately. It is necessary to choose a darkened dry place. Jewelry boxes are usually used for jewelry. It is advisable that they be made of varnished wood. The caskets should be tightly closed, and their bottom should be covered with a cotton or linen cloth. If there are no separate compartments in the container, pack the jewelry in plastic or velvet cases.

If long-term storage is expected, it is worth using fastened plastic bags. To further exclude air access to the products, they can be wrapped in special paper, previously cleaned. The product used should wash periodically with warm water and soap, and then dry thoroughly with a soft cloth. For better cleaning, you can take a brush, whose bristles should not be stiff to avoid scratches.

See how to clean silver at home in the next video.