Hi-Ho Silver!

     Silver is a silver-colored metal that is found between copper and gold on the Periodic Table of the Elements. It is very soft and tarnishes easily in polluted air; silver is also the best conductor of both heat and electricity among all of the metals. Now, by this time I am sure that you are beginning to wonder why I thought to include silver in a blog about rocks and minerals. After all silver is neither a rocks nor a mineral: it is an element, one of the building blocks of minerals. A great deal of the elements do not occur uncombined in nature, they are always found as compounds and must be extracted. There are some elements that do occur in pure, solid form not combined with any other elements. These are called native elements, and native elements are sometimes classified as minerals. These include: copper, gold, sulfur, bismuth, and silver.
Native silver is often found as natural wires or as dendrites, and it is occasionally found as nuggets. The term dendrite refers to a crystal that grows like the branches of a tree. Native silver is found as these tree-like structures, as is native copper. In Michigan’s Copper Country native silver and native copper are sometimes found growing together! These crystals are quite rare and are prized by collectors.

     No one knows when people first began to use silver, but I am willing to guess that they might have done so right out of the Garden of Eden. Since silver is soft, melts at a lower temperature than many metals, and is found as a native metal, silver has always been a popular metal to craft objects from. Silver was, and still is, used to make decorative objects and jewelry. Since silver is so soft and will tarnish easily other metals are often added to it to keep it from wearing out or tarnishing. When 20-25% silver is added to gold the alloy is called electrum. When 7.5% copper is added to silver the alloy is called sterling silver. At the end of the Middle Ages silver was valued as highly as gold, but now an ounce of silver is worth about fifty to eighty times less than gold, though it is still quite valuable when compared to other metals. Silver has also been used to make coins for quite some time, but most countries no longer use precious metals like silver to make their coins. Silver possesses greater electrical conductivity (the ability to allow electricity to pass through it) than any other metal. In fact, when the electrical conductivity of a metal is judged it is actually measured against silver. Because of this silver is used in some electrical applications, specifically those in which the need for perfect conductivity outweighs the cost of silver!

     Silver is found in many places throughout the world, but it is usually found as an ore. The best sources of native silver include China and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Historically Norway has been the best source of native silver. A good deal of native silver was found at Kongsberg, Norway in the 17and 1800s.
Silver, both a metal and a mineral, is as useful as it is beautiful. Now I know why it is so valuable!