Where to find silver in household items

You can find silver in:. Whenever you type on your computer, turn on your car, look at your watch, or listen to music, you rely on the silver in your device to make sure everything functions correctly. You might not think silver shares much in common with the medicine industry, but think again.

The next time you admire your collection of silver dollars, remember that the same silver can play a role in protecting your teeth or skin from infection. It might even help save your life. Silver is used in:. Believe it or not, silver plays a vital role in helping you see. As the most reflective metal in the world, silver works harmoniously with glass to keep your vision clear and undamaged by harmful light energy. This high caliber of reflectivity helps you drive safely, protects your eyes, and protects you from the scorching sunlight that shines in through windows.

Because of its brilliant reflectivity, shiny luster, and durable frame when alloyed with copper , silver works well as a valuable status symbol. In fact, items like silver cutlery and rings have been made since at least the 14 th Century. The key, however, is getting people to get rid of their old devices in a way that means these metals can be extracted, recycled and reused.

But before you start your own treasure hunt, a quick caveat: some local authorities are currently asking people not to create more rubbish at a time when refuse collection services are over-stretched. So, view this more as an opportunity to sort your hoard into neat piles, for recycling later. Learn more about why social distancing is so important. It is possible to get more gold from a tonne of smartphones and electronic waste than from a tonne of ore Credit: Getty Images.

Once we emerge from the pandemic crisis, however, some believe that we can use this huge repository of metals to shift our attention from mining raw materials from the ground to digging through the urban mine instead. By retrieving the materials hidden inside our old devices, it may be possible to recycle and reuse them in new devices without having to dig up anymore. To get just a taste of what can be achieved, we can look at the medals for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, which are now expected to be held in the summer of Between April and March , the metal from six million mobile phones and almost 72, tonnes of waste electronics was extracted from devices donated by people all over Japan to make around 5, gold, silver and bronze medals.

Urban mining in this way has the potential to help us build a more sustainable future while also reducing our reliance upon metals dug up in mines half a world away. According to some estimates, if all 7. A US lifestyle for all would require five planet Earths.

Digging up all this material takes a heavy toll on the environment. Over the last 50 years, material extraction has tripled.

Many resources are now becoming harder to find, more expensive, and the environmental costs of extraction ever greater. People from all over Japan donated their old electronic devices to provide metal for 5, gold, silver and bronze Olympic medals Credit: Getty Images. So, have we really already extracted all that we need?

In , Asia generated the largest amount of e-waste — While the smallest in terms of total e-waste, Oceania was actually the highest generator of e-waste per inhabitant, throwing out Hidden inside is , tonnes of copper and 31 tonnes of gold. And because older equipment typically contains more of these metals than newer devices, if we were to reclaim all of this, it would be more than enough to manufacture the It raises the tantalising prospect of simply reusing the materials we have already dug rather than pillage the Earth even further.

Sterling silver has a purity of Most precious metals-like gold and copper -are nonmagnetic, and silver is no exception. Grab some magnets and see if they are drawn to your object. This is an easy test that can give you a good idea on whether your item is real silver or not. Sterling silver is odorless, so go ahead and smell the piece in question. Does it have a noticeable odor?

If you can smell sulfur or a distinct metallic fragrance, then it is not sterling silver. The item could be silver-plated, but a scent indicates that it is not made entirely of sterling silver. This is a great test to conduct for those of us who have a strong sense of smell.

Silver needs to be polished on a regular basis. Rub the tarnished piece as if polishing. If no black residue appears on your cloth, it's not silver.

Rust or a lack of oxidation indicates that the item is made of a different material from silver.