Categories: Silver

Colloidal vs Ionic Silver

Q: What is the difference between ionic silver and an atom of silver with an exterior charge?

A: Silver ion (AG+) is not the same as particle, as used in common descriptions.

Quote from http://www.silver-colloids.com

silver ion (Ag+) – An ion of silver is formed when a single electron is removed from a silver atom causing the ion to have a positive charge. An ion that has a positive charge is attracted to the cathode and is referred to as a cathode ion or cation. Silver ions are water-soluble and exist only in the presence of water or other solvent. Silver ions diffuse through a solution due to the mutual repulsion they have for each other caused by their ionic charge. Silver ions exist as individual entities in solution and do not cluster together to form particles like atoms. A silver ion is a different form of matter than an atom of silver and has entirely different physical properties. While an ion possesses ionic charge owing to the missing electron, it is not considered an atom of silver with a charge. Ionic charge is caused by the missing electron and is different from particle charge that is caused by adsorption of ions on the surface of the particle. If the water containing silver ions is evaporated, the ions are forced to combine with anions present in the solution and will thus become a silver compound when the water is removed. The silver compound(s) produced is determined by the anions present in the solution before the water is removed. Silver ions do contribute to the electrical conductivity of solutions that contain them. Adding silver ions to the solution does increase the conductivity. Silver ions are soluble in water and do combine readily to form compounds.

silver particles– Particles are clusters of silver atoms. The size of the particles found in a colloid can range in size from 1 nanometer (nm) to 1000 nm. The size of the particles typically found in silver colloids is under 100 nm. The atoms in a silver particle remain held together by van der Waalse force of attraction that causes like (identical) atoms to be attracted to each other. A particle 1 nm in diameter consists of 31 silver atoms, a particle 10 nm in diameter consists of about 31,000 atoms and a particle 20 nm in diameter consists of about 250,000 atoms. Silver particles do not contribute to the electrical conductivity of solutions that contain them. Adding silver particles to the solution does not increase the conductivity.

Q: Is your method DC or AC? I hear that DC produces high quality at first, but at lower stability that degrades in storage.

A: Our power source is a neon transformer AC of approximately 10,000 volts. We build the cell from electrolytic resistant plastic and cut the pieces to build a box with a petition and weld the parts together with a plastic welder. In the petition is a teflon filter impregnated with metallic vapors similar to thin filming. A silver wire is placed on each side of the cell very near the teflon filter (anode-cathode). The impregnated teflon filter traps the ions.

A DC power supply such as a battery charger (adjustable variable DC power supply preferred) can also be used in conjunction with titanium electrodes to produce negative hydrogen ions. This cell can be used in combination with various minerals such as calcium hydroxide and magnesium carbonate, salt etc. to produce an almost endless array of products for experimentation. Titanium electrodes do not have to be platinum coated as most manufacturers suggest. The platinum soon wears away leaving the titanium exposed in the expensive $1,500 water ionizers.

Colloidal Silver

A Silver Ion is an atom of silver that is missing an electron in the valence shell (Valence means Outer Orbit). Ionic Silver is a Silver Ion that combined with a valence electron in a water molecule electrostatically. In effect, it is dissolved.

Mixing Ionic Silver with a reducer such as Ascorbic Acid transfers an electron back to the Silver Ion making it elemental again as well as visible. One drop of ascorbic acid is all that is required to cause the Ionic (dissolved) Silver to visibly precipitate out of solution.

http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/pdf2004/fpl_2004_dorau001.pdf

When silver ions encounter ascorbic acid, they are reduced to metallic silver nanoparticles. This causes the solution to turn a dark brown.

http://web.science.uu.nl/scm/articles/2003/Velikov_Langmuir_2003.pdf

First, the solution containing the ascorbic acid was put into the reaction flask. Then, the silver solution was quickly added to the vigorously stirred acid solution. As a result of the size-dependent extinction of the silver particles, the color of the solution turned from transparent to black and then to dark brown-grayish as the scattering contribution increased.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascorbic_acid#Reactions

As a mild reducing agent, ascorbic acid degrades upon exposure to air, converting the oxygen to water. The redox reaction is accelerated by the presence of metal ions and light.

Ascorbic acid is special because it can transfer a single electron, owing to the stability of its own radical ion called “semidehydroascorbate”, dehydroascorbate. The net reaction is:

RO. + C6H7O6 -> ROH + C6H6O6.-

However, being a good electron donor, excess ascorbate in the presence of free metal ions can not only promote but also initiate free radical reactions.

http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/10186420-on9EHw/webviewable/10186420.pdf

Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC06-76RLO 1830

Because silver is a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) land ban chemical, its removal from waste streams is highly desirable. Recovery and reuse of silver from solutions and waste streams is also of economic interest.

Ascorbic acid (C6H8O6) was used to reduce silver ion to metallic silver, which precipitates from solution.

Preliminary experiments at PNL have shown that ascorbic acid is a rapid and effective reducing agent for silver ion. The reaction is initiated immediately upon ascorbic acid addition, with the bulk of the silver in solution precipitating as the metal within minutes

Silver recovery is very dependent on the concentration of the reducing agent (ascorbic acid)

Results of these preliminary experiments show that silver concentrations may be easily reduced to levels below 5 ppm from CEPOD anolyte solutions by using ascorbic acid. The Ag+ in solution is reduced to metallic silver, which immediately precipitates and may be filtered out.

http://cdn.intechopen.com/pdfs/

We have developed a methodology for the recovery of silver (I) from aqueous solutions on a microfiltration membrane using ascorbic acid as a reducing agent. Under certain conditions,it is possible to recover about 99% of the silver contained in the aqueous solutions.

This includes the reduction of silver ions with a reducing agent such as ascorbic acid in a microfiltration system. During reduction of the silver ions, the membrane is used as a support for the metallic silver formed.

How to Test for Ionic Silver

It is an open secret that the antimicrobial effect of Ionic and Colloidal Silver is recognized to be extremely broad spectrum when applied to viral, bacterial and fungal pathogens.

Colloidal Silver is a perpetual suspension of nano and/or pico particles of silver in water. Colloidal Silver works by “choking” pathogens. Colloidal Silver is not affected by other liquids that reside in the gastrointestinal tract or stomach. When silver comes into the proximity of harmful pathogens, it disrupts an enzyme that they require in order to process oxygen properly.

Without oxygen, the pathogens quickly die. Colloidal Silver kills harmful pathogens while leaving healthy tissue and cells untouched because cells that are natural to the body have a much thicker cell wall than pathogen related cells. Ionic Silver is a solution of Silver (dissolved) and Water where a positively charged Silver Ion has attached itself electrostatically to a Water Molecule.

The saturation limit of PureSilver to Pure Water is about 14 PPM. Thereafter, only Colloidal Silver can be made. Ionic Silver loses its veracity when combined with other liquids such as stomach acid because of its loose electrostatic bond, making it ineffective if consumed orally. Ionic Silver kills topical pathogens such that are found on skin or in the mouth.

Our product contains both of these two distinct species of silver that reside in a common delivery mechanism, ultra-pure, de-ionized water. One species has an ionic bond with the water creating a transport agent for the other species which is composed of electrically isolated, like charged Pico scalar Silver Islands with a high Zeta potential prompting a repelling force that maintains the species evenly dispersed throughout the transport matrix.

Zeta potential indicates the degree of repulsion between adjacent, similarly charged particles in a dispersion. For molecules and particles that are small enough, a high zeta potential will confer stability, i.e., the solution or dispersion will resist aggregation. When the potential is low, attraction exceeds repulsion and the dispersion will break and flocculate. So, colloids with high zeta potential (negative or positive) are electrically stabilized while colloids with low zeta potentials tend to coagulate or flocculate.

Silver has been used for fighting germs and preventing infections for centuries, and is now (again) becoming a popular form of alternative medicine as an antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal.

With this increasing popularity comes controversy: many questions with not always reliable answers.

There are limits on what science can prove, so we take care to honestly present facts and claims, discerning what we know, what we suspect, and what we just don’t have a clue about.

Here are a few factors contributing to the controversy.

Claims of Benefits

Enthusiasts of alternative healing methods make claims that silver can heal conditions that are often not treatable with conventional medicine. They claim safe and natural qualities over pharmaceuticals, and far more effective than drugs. While this can be true, some groups with economic interests could feel threatened. The main point is the use of silver as an antibiotic: the microbial creatures cannot develop a resistance to silver, which is the case with yeast based antibiotics. Our latest threat, MRSA or methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, can cause serious trouble – no known antibiotic can stop it, and its spread is on the rise.

Threatening to the Pharmaceutical Industry

Because it’s a naturally occurring element, silver is not easy to patent, so it cannot be “owned”. This places silver in the controversial realm of alternative medicine, often subject to unwarranted attacks that some feel is a result of pharmaceutical economic interests and governmental support of them.

Ionic and Colloidal… Difficult to Prove Area of Science

Previously, the most common products on the market were “colloidal silver”, but recently the term “ionic silver” has been introduced.

The claims on each type of silver are controversial, with not enough rigorous research behind the claims.

Colloid by definition means molecules suspended in a solution, although even well respected scientific texts do not consistently agree on some details. Ionic by definition means atoms that are missing an electron (it has a plus-one electrical charge), or have an extra electron (negative electrical charge).

The currently accepted idea is that silver’s efficacy to kill germs and heal comes from silver ions. Because watching interaction of ions with cells is very difficult, our understanding of the exact mechanism of action far from conclusive. Many conflicting claims have been made with little scientific evidence.

The questions of safety and efficacy are frequently argued with respect to ionic silver versus colloidal silver, and also with respect to colloidal silver that is partly ionic versus all or mostly silver particles or metal (atoms or molecules, not ions).

The Bottom Lines

Ionic silver is the new standard.

It’s now established that ionic silver is the form of silver that is a powerful agent for killing germs and healing. The term colloidal silver is used less commonly in recent years.

Silver ions probably require a delivery system to be absorbed.

Because silver ions tend to bind with substances in your mouth and gut before reaching your blood for absorption and use, a delivery system is required. The ions don’t last very long, so they must be carried into your system before being released for absorption and use.

Colloidal silver probably works by releasing silver ions.

One presumption is that colloidal silver has effectiveness because it releases silver ions in your body. And it’s at the precise moment when a silver ion gains or releases an electron that it has this antimicrobial effect.

Only your direct experience matters.

Right now, all this is beyond the realm of modern medical science, to state for certain whether colloidal silver works by releasing silver ions, whether the germ-killing occurs when an ion gains or releases an electron, or whether the introduction of silver ions into your body with a delivery system is more effective than just free silver ions.

Because our silver islands are Pico scalar, the aspect ratio of individual silver islands combined are of an order of magnitude greater than current conventional products which tend to agglomerate and are sized in the high nanometer to micron range which hinders migration through the dermal layers.

Author: Life Enthusiast Staff