Silver



** Definition: ** Silver is a soft, white metal. The pure form of silver is called //metallic//, //free// or //native//. Pure silver is extremely soft, as a result, copper is usually added to increase silvers hardness and strength.

Silver is a nonrewneable resource. It's nonrenewable because it is relatively scarce, although, it is the most plentiful and least expensive of the precious metals.
 * Renewable or nonrenewable? **

Peru leads the world in the production of silver, followed by Mexico and China. The main silver producing states of the U.S. are Alaska, Idaho, and Nevada.
 * Where is silver located? **


 * What is silver used for? **Silver is known as a coinage metal because it has been used to make coins for thousands of years. In the past, the U.S. had silver coins that contained 90% silver and only 10% copper. However, in 1965 and 1970, Congress passed laws to eliminate silver from the new dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars. The metal is also used by the electrical and electronic equipment industry for wire and other items because silver conducts electricity better than any other metal. Doctors use thin plates, wires, and drainage tubes made of silver during surgery because silver helps kill bacteria. Dentists also fill cavities with a material called silver amalgam--a mixture of silver, tin, and mercury. Silver compounds also have many uses. Compounds of silver include silver nitrate, silver bromide, and several silver oxides. Silver nitrate is one of the very few water-soluble silver compounds, and is used to make silver plates and silver mirrors. Silver bromide plans an important role because it has the light-sensitive chemical they use for photographic film. Manufactures of batteries use silver oxides to make small and powerful batteries that are used in calculators, hearing aids, and watches. Silver is also used in making jewelry, fine tableware, and ornaments. **Silvers need impact** looks to me as if it would be high considering everything that silver is used in and how important some of the materials are that need silver in them to make them usable.

**How is Silver extracted?** Silver is mined through a series of mines known as an open cut mine, a shaft mine, and a panning. Open cut mining is when large masses of silver-bearing rock are broken up then removed by power shovels and trucks. Shaft mining refers to the method of excavating vertical tunnels from the top down. It's the kind of mine you usually see on movies where the miner travels straight down into a deep, dark tunnel (shaft) until he reaches the bottom. The shaft mine has a vertical manshaft, a tunnel where the workers travel up and down in an elevator. Short tunnels to the silver are dug from the manshaft. When the ore is dynamited and broken into chunks, it's taken up to the top and loaded into trucks through a second shaft. There is also usually an airshaft for mine ventilation. A panning is when they take bits and pieces of earth and put them in sets of pans with holes in them so that the access materials disappear and the silver stays in the pan.

**Ecosystem/Environmental Impact/My feelings/Conservation:** For the environment and ecosystem silver is good and bad. Silver is good because it is used in so many things that keep the world going, such as batteries, dentist cavities, electronic and electrical companies, and doctors for thin plates, wires, and drainage tubes used for surgery. The world kicks on some of those things! Although, silver is also bad because silver mines are absolutely terrible for the pollution, and for contaminating some of the areas that silver mines are located. For example, Children living near the silver mining in Peru have a high degee of lead and other contaminates in their blood from the poisonous emissions. My feelings are that maybe they should make the mines in non-populated areas, or move people out of the areas because i think that the mining of silver has brought everything and everybody pretty far. I think that so far we have done a pretty good job of conservation of silver because all of the big things that silver were used for such as money has changed and no longer uses silver, so we're conserving it. I also think its good because what silver is used for today is very useful.