Talk:Silver nitrate

Cultural References: Wilkie Collins "Poor Miss Finch" c. 1872, refences 19th century medicinal/pharmacological usage of Nitrate of Silver for the treatment of Epilepsy, and the subsequent skin darkening.98.218.242.196 (talk) 06:47, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Major Safety Issue with Page!

Silver nitrate reacts EXPLOSIVELY with ethanol! Why is it listed as soluble!

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ed063p1016.1 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.6.90.149 (talk) 21:47, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Current use

My Dr. used silver nitrate on me yesterday during a routine visit. I just had stomach surgery and the scar had to be reopened. the portion that was reopened was not healing as wished so with a little silver nitrate on the scar things are looking well.

ANTHONY 24 JULY 2007

I had firsthand experience this morning that silver nitrate is still used as a cauterizing agent in the US--I updated the article from past tense to present tense.

• agreed. Last night a doctor used it to cauterize a pyogenic granuloma growth on my foot. Definately still in use --Brian ^{(How am I doing?)} 12:32, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

• also agree. While in the hospital and for subsequent visits, plastic surgeons have used what they call "silver nitrate sticks" as they are wooden sticks tipped with silver nitrate. In my case it was for excessive cell growth (raised area) on healing burns, removing granularization (skin growth) on wounds, and killing bacteria on infected areas. Yes, it has many uses, and is quite an experience, as far as chemical burns go. 11:07, 05 October 2006 (UTC)

• • These statements really need a source. Can either of you find a source stating AgNO3 is a valid treatment for surgical scarring etc? Dachande (talk) 12:34, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

contradiction toxicity

is it toxic or not? article has contradiction.

there is plenty of info concerning acute toxicity of silver nitrate. for crede-prophylaxis (gonorrhoea prevention) only some drops of a diluited silver-nitrate solution are used, and its use has been shown to be effective and safe. Today, here in Germany, the crede-prophylaxis is used only rarely. I can nor find any contradiction. michael Redecke 11:26, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

I have to agree, one second this article says it is a good, safe thing to put onto open wounds, babies eyes, and mouth ulcers, and then it says that it is extremely poisonous, what one is it? --UltraMagnus (talk) 23:39, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

Reworded the relevant sections to make this clearer. The silver nitrate used for preventing gonorrhea and for cauterizing wounds is in a dilute solution. In concentrated forms, it is very toxic and dangerous. In itself, silver nitrate is quite toxic, which is why it is effective at preventing gonorrhea in the first place (it kills off the germs that cause the infection). However, this is only beneficial when used in dilute solutions; if too much is used (the "incorrect dosage" referred to in the article), it will not only kill off the germs but also kill off enough of your body cells (and do other things, like leave a silver deposit) to cause problems, such as blindness and other side-effects. This property is one of the reasons it has been replaced by antibiotics, which have less severe side-effects.—Tetracube (talk) 20:52, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Safety section says that EPA stopped regulating Silver in 1990. No way that this is accurate. I don't know what industries, or silver compounds the writer meant, but this is patently false. For example, in the Metal Finishing industry, there is a very tight standard of .43 mg/l in wastewater discharges--at any level of discharge. 40CFR 433.17 as of 10/25/04. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jayhonk (talk • contribs) 15:53, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

Odor?

Does Silver nitrate have a distinct odor at any concentration? --NEMT 17:28, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

Nope Kyanite 03:08, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Kyanite 22:27, 10 May 2007 (UTC) whatever it is but i say that this chemical is toxic —Preceding unsigned comment added by 131.183.38.215 (talk) 23:16, 27 September 2008 (UTC)

In the eyes?

"Sometimes dropped into newborn babies' eyes to preven t contraction of gonorrhea"

Is that true? that soudns quite freaky and weird. In fact, it is a corrosive sustance, how come it's dropped into the eyes? And of a new born?

Also, Gonorreha is a veneral illness, i don't believe it can be cured or even prevented by doing some wierd thing with a corrosive sustenca in the eye. IT JUST DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!!!!

http://pregnancy.about.com/library/dic/bldefsilvernitrate.htm
^found on google in under ten seconds --NEMT 02:11, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Interesting you say it's corrosive and we use it in babies eyes. If you think about it, we put Hydrochloric acid in swimming pools, no one complains about that. Your stomach acids are corrosive as well. Silver nitrate may be corrosive, but on a scale of 1-10, 1 being something midly corrosive and 10 being HydroFluoric acid, is silver nitrate really that bad? i dont think so, but thats me. Kyanite 22:27, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Silver Nitrate used to be used in the eyes of newborns to prevent gonorrhea infections in the eyes, however these days it's much more common to use Penicillan G instead. Also, from first hand experience Silver Nitrate is much more likely to cause liver spot like patches on the skin.... it's actually a chemical burn taking place. Kinnin (talk) 03:26, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

- I believe they had to be very careful with the concentration of AgNO3. There were accidental blindings. I was always under the impression they swabbed the eyelids and surrounding areas, not dropped it in the eyes, but the 9th ed. of Introduction to Physiological and Clinical Chemistry (Arnow, 1976) says "Dilute solutions of this salt formerly were dropped in the eyes of newborn babies in order to ensure against gonorrheal infection." I'd still consider that a second-hand source; anybody with an early medical text having a contemporary description of the exact use? As with all corrosives and caustics, concentration matters; yes, AgNO3 CAN blind you. Crsci9 (talk) 18:42, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

As little as 2 grams is fatal?

How is AgNo₃ so toxic in the body? What does it do? Does it stop the heart or something? 71.168.108.66 18:30, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

Thats a good question. Thats just what the bottle said, 2 grams. ill look it up. This could be a universal silver ion lethal dose figure.

Is it true about silver nitrate ?????

in the holywood film Underworld, the use of silver nitrate was shown in bullets (against warewolfs), and it was show that when silver nitrate got mixed with blood, it starts crystalizing it, and thus a victum dies , wanna know is it true if we analyze it scientifically ?????

Mohammad Adil 19:36, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Sadly (or possibly gladly, depending) werewolves aren't real, and as such, we don't know what a werewolf's blood would be made of. --uǝʌǝsʎʇɹnoɟʇs 18:39, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Well what happens when it's injected into a human's bloodstream? 75.165.5.155 04:03, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

The question is arbitrary and has no significance outside of the context of this movie you mention. Therefore the answer to this question is unencyclopedic. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.170.73.215 (talk) 01:17, 1 January 2008 (UTC)

To answer your questions, 1) Silver Nitrate looks nothing like what it did in the movie, where it actually resembles more mercury then silver nitrate. 2) Although I doubt it's been studied, I imagine that injection of silver nitrate would cause several things to happen to a human. A) Blood pH would be disrupted, resulting in a change in breathing. B) Blood cells would most likely be damaged or destroyed. C)Tissue damage would occur, as silver nitrate solution most likely isn't osmotically balanced for the human body. D) Death may occur, but most of these signs would occur with injection of most chemical solutions into the blood. Kinnin (talk) 03:33, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Darkening effect

Silver nitrate on the skin only turns dark after exposure to sunlight, as per personal experience. I had the whitish effect on my hand for over 8 hours and it only darkened after I went into the sun. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Nerefir (talk • contribs) 20:00, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

I used pulverised silver nitrate to catch a thief that was taking money from a desk drawer. This person was the only one to put his hands into the fake money envelope, thus staining his skin after exposure to sunlight. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 148.244.194.113 (talk) 22:44, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

I tryed the whole NaNO3 on the hand thing. Im wondering how long it will last...--SummerPhD (talk) 19:13, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

Disinfection

After an initial false start (silver nitrate as a disinfectant), Kelseymflanagan has written an essay: disinfection with silver nitrate. Someone with knowledge please check it. — RHaworth (Talk | contribs) 17:53, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

merge proposal

Propose merger: merge the article disinfection with silver nitrate with this article as there is no need for a separate article about a single use for the compound which can be covered in this article.Theseeker4 (talk) 18:35, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

 Done Although the new merged Safety section needs a rewrite, now.--Aervanath lives in the Orphanage 06:04, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

I am not convinced this was a good merger. The Silver Nitrate article is intended to be specifically about the compound and uses, but not its uses in depth (as the disinfection section is now larger than the others combined - and reads like a separate article. Disinfection with Silver Nitrate should be covered specifically and separately. curugil (talk) 18:55, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Preparation section

In the recent edit to the section "Preparation", the chemical equation is unbalanced because there are 2 atoms Ag one the reactant side and 4 on the product side I think it was right before. Nat2 (talk) 23:17, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

Fixed! Alecjw (talk) 09:46, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Prevent gonorrhea???

Is that vandalism in the safety section? I just thought I'd give a heads up.

Colloidal silver crackpots

Watch out for these dumbasses. They've already added dubious info and linked it to one of their charlatan companies.

I've removed this part:

"Since that time, as antibiotic-resistant microorganisms have emerged, interest in using the silver ion for anti-microbial purposes has resumed." (info taken from www.silver-colloids.com/Pubs/history-silver.html)

It's obvious what are they trying to do. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Endimion17 (talk • contribs) 11:04, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

NFPA Diamond Error

The NFPA Diamond information on this page is for Silver Sulfate. Silver Nitrate has a hazard rating of Health = 2, Flammability = 0, Reactivity = 0, and Specific Hazard = none. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 165.91.99.211 (talk) 23:01, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

References