Silver is made of the element silver (Ag), and natural silver consists of a mixture of two stable isotopes: silver-107 and silver-109.
To further clarify, instead of asking "What chemicals make silver?", it's more accurate to ask "What elements or isotopes make up silver?". Here's a breakdown:
The Composition of Silver
Silver exists as a pure element. It's not a compound made of different elements bonded together. Instead, it's composed of different isotopes of the element silver.
- Element: Silver (Ag)
- Isotopes:
- Silver-107
- Silver-109
Here’s a table summarizing the isotopic composition of natural silver:
| Isotope | Percentage |
|---|---|
| Silver-107 | 51.839% |
| Silver-109 | 48.161% |
Essentially, silver is made of silver atoms, with a slight variation in the number of neutrons in the nucleus of those atoms (hence the isotopes).
Chemical Properties of Silver
While silver itself isn't made of different chemicals, it does react with certain chemicals. For example, the reference mentions:
- Silver doesn't react with moist air or dry oxygen.
- Moist ozone oxidizes silver superficially.
- Silver tarnishes quickly at room temperature with sulfur or hydrogen sulfide.
This means that while silver is an element, its surface can react with other substances to form new chemical compounds, such as silver sulfide (the cause of tarnish).
