Soft, malleable metal with characteristic silver sheen. Stable to water and oxygen but attacked by sulfur compounds in air to form black sulfide layer.
Dissolves in sulfuric and nitric acid. Used in photography, silverware, jewelry, electrical industry, and glass (mirrors).
Diagnostic tests:
Easily reduced on charcoal using a blowpipe or propane torch after
roasting the sample forming a malleable silvery bead.
Silver, along with lead and mercury form white, insoluble chlorides from aqueous
solutions.
References
Emsley, J., 1991; THE ELEMENTS : Sec. Ed.,
Clarendon Press, Oxford, 251 p.
(* - Mineral Name Is Not IMA Approved)
(! - New Dana classification added or changed from Danas New Mineralogy)
(? - IMA Discredited Mineral Species Name)
There are 167 minerals with Ag in the Mineralogy Database.