Silver: The Spanish Conquest Of The New World

The name silver is derived from the old Anglo-Saxon word ‘seolfor’, and the symbol (Ag) comes from the Latin name Argentum. From B.C times to present, the way the element silver is prepared, used and priced has slowly changed and evolved. Although these things change over the course of history, the chemical and physical properties of silver and any other element do not. Silver was not only used in Ancient Times, but throughout the Bible as well. Considered a precious metal since Ancient times, the element Silver is one of the earliest metals known to humans. While studying the element silver, it is import to look it’s properties, how it’s prepared, along with it’s use and value in both Ancient/Biblical times and present. The element silver
Bolivia, Peru and Mexico accounted for 85 percent of world production during the 1800s. Between 1900 and 1920 there was a 50 percent increase in global production of silver resulting from new discoveries in Australia, Central America and Europe. Today, the silver production is more than 671 million troy ounces per year. Silver breakthroughs like stream-assisted drilling, mine dewatering, and haulage improvements have majorly impacted the preparation for use of silver. The most commonly known method of preparing silver today is called the cyanide process, first idealized in the 18th century by Spanish miners, and developed during the 19th century. Briefly, the cyanide process begins with crushing the silver ore into pieces, then the ore is stacked on impermeable pads and finally sodium cyanide and water solution is added to the ore. Most commonly, the Merrill-Crowe precipitation process is used to recover silver from heap leach solutions. The mining of silver has majorly increased since 3000 B.C, along with the preparation increase because of the low-cost cyanide
In Biblical times, silver was mainly used for money, and now is currently big with the photography industry because the halides, or light-sensitive salts, formed from silver develop high-quality photos. Silver’s high electrical conductivity is used in the area of electrons with specialization in switch and relay contacts for automobile controls and automotive window heating. Since silver is a strong oxidant, it is used for dinnerware or otherwise known as “silverware”. Industrial processes use silver because of its strong thermal conductivity and resistance to combustion. Silver is not only a good conductor of heat and an essential catalyst for many industries, it also is commonly used as jewelry. The lack of durability in pure silver forces a mixture to be made with 5-20% copper to form an alloy known as sterling silver. The uses of Silver have dramatically changed as more inventions and ideas have come along. Silver’s small availability and high price due to high numbers of coins, brought the U.S to pass the Johnson Silver Coinage Act in 1965 to stop silver coin production.
Although silver is known for is beauty and utility, because of its availability, silver was used for basic money (meanwhile gold was a rarity). For example, back in ancient Babylon, workers earned about 2.1 grams of silver per day, translating to two dollars in modern times. The value of silver in Ancient