In the Laboratory

• Test for the presence of Chlorine, Bromine and Iodine ions. For example, white indicates Chloride, pale yellow indicates Bromide, and yellow indicates Iodide.
• Test for the presence of Carbonate, Hydroxide, Sulfide and Phosphate ions. For example, pale green indicates Carbonate, brown indicates Hydroxide, and black indicates Sulfide.
• Silver Nitrate is used to test the exact salinity of sea water, which is about 35 grams per liter.
• Silver Nitrate is used in oil fields to determine the amount of Chloride ions in water and drilling fluids.

In Manufacturing

• Silver plating, meaning electroplating silver onto a base metal such as nickel.
• Mirrors. You can look up Tollen’s Reagent to learn about this process.
• Hair dye.
• Inks, such as indelible permanent fabric marker pens.
• Explosives, such as Silver Fulminate, Silver Azide and Silver Acetylide.
• Pharmaceuticals.
• It prevents premature shrinking or dropping of buds and blooms in cut flowers, at a 2.83% solution.
• It inhibits cut flowers from making ethylene, which causes them to ripen.

In Biology

• A stain for proteins and nucleic acids.
• A stain in scanning electron microscopy.
• Detecting calcium in tissue samples. Look up Von Kossa’s Silver Nitrate for more information.
• To kill silvery thread moss on golf greens. Use 8 grams Silver Nitrate per gallon of distilled water and spray on the moss. Be extremely careful not to get this solution on your skin, and mark the bottle boldly and clearly.

In Medical History

• A 1% Silver Nitrate solution was used as eye drops to prevent eye disease in newborn infants of mothers with certain infectious diseases. One to two drops were used. This procedure began in 1881 and is now obsolete.
• A cauterizing agent. Dentists sometimes use it infused in swabs to help heal mouth ulcers.
• Taken internally, Silver Nitrate is a poison. Ingesting it causes abdominal pain and gastroenteritis. The estimated lethal dose is 2 to 10 grams.
• Silver Nitrate has an extremely bitter taste, even in small concentrations.
• Toughened Silver Nitrate is molded Silver Nitrate, hydrochloric acid and sodium chloride, called caustic pencils or lunar caustic.
• Silver Nitrate tends to be very toxic to bacteria and other lower life forms.

In Photography

Very high purity Silver Nitrate is the starting material for all chemical based photography. It is not the Silver Nitrate that is light sensitive, it is the Silver Halides that matter. Film contains a carefully formulated coating of Silver Chloride, Silver Bromide and Silver Iodide. The particles are ground extremely fine, then mixed with a gelatin. The gelatin is then rolled onto a clear acetate backing, which is the film base. This process, in its entirety, is performed in complete darkness.

In Ceramics

Silver Nitrate is used when firing pottery in a kiln to make beautiful colors, as in Raku glazes. For example, 1 gram Silver Nitrate in 50 grams distilled water makes a silver wash for pottery.

Cautions: Silver Nitrate and Your Skin

Do not contact your skin with Silver Nitrate solutions. If you do, the moment you go into sunlight the exposed skin will turn black. This is unsightly but generally harmless, and it will last for about 10 days. There is no way to get it off once it has turned black.

Preventing Silver Nitrate Stains on Your Skin

Dissolve 2 teaspoons of common table salt in 1 cup of warm water, and place this salt solution close by where you will be working with Silver Nitrate solutions. Then, if you spill Silver Nitrate solution on your skin:

1. Stop what you are doing.
2. Rub the salt solution completely onto your skin, where you think the Silver Nitrate spilled.
3. Rub hard, and get the salt solution as deeply into your skin as you can. You can use a paper towel.
4. Work quickly, because you have about 10 seconds.
5. After a minute or so, rinse off the salt solution in plain tap water.

If you do this promptly, the Silver Nitrate will convert to Silver Chloride, and your skin will not darken when you later go out into the sunlight.

Cautions: General

• ALWAYS wear eye protection when working with Silver Nitrate. NEVER work with Silver Nitrate without eye protection.
• NEVER get Silver Nitrate powder or solutions into your eyes.
• Silver Nitrate, while not harmful to mammals, is highly toxic to fish and other aquatic organisms.
• ALWAYS dissolve Silver Nitrate powder into distilled water, the kind at the grocery store.
• NEVER use tap water when dissolving Silver Nitrate powder, because it will turn milky from dilute Silver Chloride.