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Silver Uses in the 21st Century |
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For those of us in the jewelry industry,
mention the word silver and visions of
earrings and rings dance in our heads. If
asked to come up with other uses for silver,
we might stretch our minds and throw out
suggestions of the silverware found on the
table at Thanksgiving Dinner, or as a
backing for old-fashioned mirrors. These would be accurate portrayals, but they might elicit a snide remark from someone more familiar with the myriad uses for this magical metal. . Though the jewelry industry does consume a fair amount of silver (247.5 million ounces in 2004, according to the Silver Institute), it is actually a distant second to the industrial sector which used 367.1 million ounces in the same period.
Silver has several properties beyond its
brilliance and workability, that make it
popular for a wide variety of uses. For
example, silver is heavily used in
photography as the active ingredient in
film. Further, it is also used in both
medical and industrial X-Ray films (heavy
industry uses X-ray imaging to check the
integrity of welds, solders and structural
elements).
And with regard to pure water, about half
off all the water purifiers sold use silver
in conjunction with carbon in filters to
kill any small nasties that might otherwise
make it through the tap and into your gut! By now you probably get the picture, but just to really make sure, here are some other ways that our life here on Earth (and beyond) has come to rely on silver and its unique properties.
Silver is: Article by
Mike McGinnis |