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How to clean silver jewelry?
Silver is a relatively active metal.
Sulfur and oxides in air and other natural media have a certain corrosive effect on silver.
Because silver oxide and silver sulfide both appear black, silver jewelry will take on some small black spots (silver oxide) or black film (silver sulfide film) after being placed or worn for a period of time.
Over time, silver jewelry will slowly change its color, and even become black in serious cases.
What Causes Silver Jewelry to Blacken? How to Clean Silver Jewelry?
The blackening of silver jewelry is due to the chemical reaction between silver and sulfur in the air to produce black silver sulfide.
Therefore, silver jewelry should not be in contact with perfume, perfume powder, balsam, sulfur soap, sweat and acid gases.
To restore the luster of silver jewelry, the following methods can be used:
(1) Wipe with cotton dipped in plain vinegar, and the black silver sulfide will dissolve in the ester acid, and the silver jewelry will show luster again.
(2) Wipe with alcohol or sodium carbonate, the effect is also very good.
(3) First, wash the surface of ornaments with detergent, then use sodium thiosulfate solution (prepared by adding 20 grams of sodium thiosulfate into 100 grams of water), and then cleanse it with clean water.
(4) Mix and heat 1 part tartaric acid, 1 part alum and 10 parts salt until boiling, and immerse the jewelry in it; Take it out after 10 minutes, wash it with water and then wipe it dry.
(5) Washing with ammonia water or wiping with a flannel cloth with toothpaste on it can also restore its original luster.
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How to clean silver jewelry after it turns black?
Now we know that the blackening of silver jewelry is caused by chemical reaction with some substances in the air.
Therefore, the black color on the surface of silver jewelry cannot be removed by plain washing.
There are mainly two ways to clean the blackened silver jewelry: physical and chemical.
The principle of physical cleaning method is to use small particles in the medium to remove the oxide film on the surface of silver jewelry by friction, which is equivalent to peeling a layer of silver jewelry.
Specific methods mainly include:
- Scrub with toothpaste and toothbrush.
- Apply lipstick to the cloth, then wipe the silver jewelry, and finally rinse with water.
- It is absolutely effective to apply white-outto the silver ornaments and wipe the silver ornaments with a cloth before the white-out is dry.
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The chemical cleaning method is relatively simple.
Its principle is to destroy the oxide film on the surface of silver jewelry through the chemical reduction reaction.
Compared with the physical method, the chemical method is relatively simple and will not leave scratches on the silver jewelry, which is more suitable for our daily use.
There are the following methods:
- Soak in Coca Cola, which contains carbonic acid, for 12 hours
- Scrub with vinegar for cooking, which contains acetic acid.
- Soak the overnight tea which contains oxalic acid.
- Wipe with a silverpolishingcloth, which has chemical components to remove silver oxide.
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