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About Colloidal SilverTo look at this topic fully we need to be familiar with some terms used in chemistry. The terms refer to states of matter and they are: Ion, Compound, Salt and Colloid.IonA ion, is simply an atom that has lost or gained an electron. When the atom gains or loses an electron and becomes an ionic state it is unstable. It now has either a positive or negative charge.Like all things in nature the atom is not happy being in this state, it wants to return to a neutral state. To do this it seeks out another ion of the opposite potential and binds to it. This teaming up then forms a compound. CompoundFrom this we then understand that a compound is two or more ions that have joined together or teamed up through what is referred to as molecular bonding. A compound is also known as a molecule in chemistry. Compounds often form clumps, clusters or crystalline structures. |
SaltWhen people hear the word salt they think of the white stuff you sprinkle on your food. The scientific definition of the word however is: "A chemical compound formed by replacing all or part of the hydrogen ions of an acid with metal ions or electropositive radicals".What does all that mean?Short version, no different to a compound, for what we are trying to grapple with here. Those three terms seem to be very interconnected.So what is a colloid?Once again let's start with a definition: A system in which finely divided particles, which are approximately 10 to 10,000 angstroms in size, are dispersed within a continuous medium in a manner that prevents them from being filtered easily or settled rapidly.That doesn't explain much to you? Have a really good close look at steam or fog. They are exactly the same thing, very fine droplets of water. Get a magnifying glass and look at the steam rising off some boiling water or a fresh cup of tea. |
What you see is tiny particles floating in the air. These particles are as we just said, fine droplets of water. If you went to a microscopic level you would see that they are actually getting jostled around by the molecules that make up the air. This is called "Brownian Motion". What is important to realise though is this: The particles are little clusters of the same thing, being water; and they appear to be "floating" in the air. Steam or fog by definition is a true colloidal state. Let's now take this knowledge back to the topic we started on :- Colloidal Silver. This hopefully allows us to understand that colloidal silver is very small clusters of stable silver atoms floating in water. Why is this so important?Simple. The silver atoms will not form compounds or salts when they are grouped together in these clusters, or micelles as is the proper scientific terminology.Silver compounds are to be avoided, remember that compounds agglomerate, or form loose globules, and silver compounds are made up of silver ions. Any product that contains silver compounds, salts or ions MUST BE AVOIDED. It is only pure non-reactive silver that is useful. |