Even without any tools, the quality of colloidal silver can be assessed quite well. However, there are some amateurish statements circulating on the Internet that contradict each other. The sources of such statements are often questionable, but are quoted again and again. We would like to go into this in more detail below.
Colloidal silver: What false statements are there?
You will repeatedly come across some of the following misstatements regarding colloidal silver:
Colloidal silver must always be yellow or always colorless.
The color of colloidal silver indicates its concentration.
A TDS meter is used to measure concentration.
The particles in yellow colloidal silver are too large.
It is possible to use tap and mineral water.
Chlorine is released into the water.
The colloidal silver must be produced with an electrode switch.
It must not contain any electrode sludge or ions.
The truth is: the user cannot find out the concentration of a finished dispersion!
Turbidity in a colloidal silver solution
Clarity is a completely different priority to color when it comes to colloidal silver. Regardless of its color, the silver water must always be clear and transparent. Cloudiness can occur during production, but the finished dispersion must be clear, otherwise it contains an impurity. This can lead to the formation of silver salts. There are many causes of contamination. This can sometimes be caused by invisible detergent residues, residues from rinsing with tap water, impure distilled water with too high a conductivity, dirty electrodes or the use of mineral or tap water.
How does electrode sludge form during electrolysis?
At the Production of colloidal silver Electricity splits small amounts of water into oxygen and hydrogen. When a large proportion of the gases escape, oxygen components on the surface of the electrode react to form silver oxide, which becomes visible on the anode as a grey-black coating. On the cathode, however, elemental silver is deposited, which is often very noticeable. It mixes with hydrogen bubbles and creates cloud-like structures. These processes can be prevented by wiping both electrodes. Surprisingly, electrode sludge forms particularly strongly in very pure water, so this process can be considered normal.
The color of colloidal silver
Basically, the quality of a silver dispersion cannot be judged by their color. Colloidal silver can look yellowish, colorless and even brownish; all of these color levels are completely normal. They usually indicate the concentration, as higher concentrations lead to stronger colors. They arise from different light scattering, which in turn is caused by particles of different sizes, but not by impurities. Not the entire amount of particles is affected, only a few particles in the dispersion are involved. Even slight differences in electrode hardening lead to these size differences, and changing current strengths also produce different particle sizes during electrolysis.
Very pure water in turn releases carbon dioxide from the ambient air, which changes the pH value. This can also change the particle size, which leads to new light scattering. Another cause is the conductivity of the distilled water used, which is not always the same. Electromagnetic fields, radar, air pressure or incidence of light may even play a role.
Certain shields against electromagnetic radiation have been proven to affect the discoloration of colloidal silver, which can occur even hours or days after the dispersion has been produced. We use distilled water for production, the conductivity of which is below 0.5 µS/cm. The rolled fine silver used has a minimum purity of 99.99%. Our starting substances are characterized by the highest purity, which usually leads to a colorless dispersion. If yellowish or brownish colors occur due to higher concentrations, this would be normal.
