All practice pages/Interatomic theory/Elements
Element 47, a transition metal
The best conductor of electricity and heat of any element, the most reflective metal, and money for thousands of years.
Period 5, group 11. The other transition metals are tinted, and every cell opens its own article.
Silver has 47 electrons, one for every proton, so the atom carries no charge. Below are the same 47 electrons written two ways.
1s² 2s² 2p⁶ 3s² 3p⁶ 3d¹⁰ 4s² 4p⁶ 4d¹⁰ 5s¹
Short form: [Kr] 4d¹⁰ 5s¹, where [Kr] stands for the 36 electrons krypton already has.
That list runs by shell. In the order the subshells fill it reads [Kr] 5s¹ 4d¹⁰, because a subshell fills by its energy, not by its shell number.
The simple form counts electrons shell by shell. The orbital form says which subshell each one sits in: s holds 2, p holds 6, d holds 10 and f holds 14. Shell 3 here is 3s² 3p⁶ 3d¹⁰, and 2 + 6 + 10 is 18.
Silver sits in period 5 and has 5 shells. The period number counts the shells.
The outer shell holds 1 electron. Those are the ones silver can lose, gain or share, so they are the ones that decide what it bonds with.
Silver gives up its single 5s electron to form Ag⁺, almost its only ion. Tarnish is silver sulfide, formed by traces of hydrogen sulfide in the air.
Occasionally found as native silver, but mostly recovered from ores of lead, zinc and copper. Mexico and Peru are the largest producers.
Known since ancient times; silver was mined in Anatolia more than 5,000 years ago. The name comes from the Old English seolfor. The symbol Ag comes from its Latin name argentum, which also named Argentina, after the silver early explorers hoped to find there.
Electronics and solar panels, which rely on its conductivity, now use the largest share. Silver also makes jewelry, silverware, coins and mirrors, brazing alloys, and antibacterial coatings and wound dressings. Silver bromide and silver chloride were the light-sensitive heart of film photography.