For years on The Gold Channel on Youtube that was the phrase I used to describe the current and future paradigm we are seeing in the monetary metals. For thousands of years gold has been used by humanity as a medium of exchange and a store of value. It was the psychopathic banker J.P. Morgan himself who uttered the first part of the phrase above "Gold is money, nothing else." He was acknowledging that gold is the ultimate currency when faith in paper is lost and also that paper money is not real money, just a promise to pay. His original statement was "Gold is money, everything else is credit." The second part of the statement comes from the realization that silver is more than just money. It has over 10k industrial uses. An integral part of water purification and food preservation for thousands of years before refrigeration. Silver is necessary for life, gold isn't.
Silver is also necessary for computers and the block chain. No silver, no Bitcoin.
Let's look at another industrial precious metal called platinum. This is from Wikipedia:
Platinum is a chemical element with symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, gray-white transition metal. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina, which is literally translated into "little silver".
Notice platinum is referred to as "little silver". Why is this? Probably because silver, it's big brother when it comes to industrial precious metals, has 10x more uses.
Let's look at the uses for platinum. This is from Wikipedia:
Of the 245 tonnes of platinum sold in 2010, 113 tonnes were used for vehicle emissions control devices (46%), 76 tonnes for jewelry (31%). The remaining 35.5 tonnes went to various other minor applications, such as investment, electrodes, anticancer drugs, oxygen sensors, spark plugs and turbine engines.
Now let's look at the uses for silver. This is from Wikipedia:
Many well-known uses of silver involve its precious metal properties, including currency, decorative items, and mirrors. The contrast between its bright white color and other media makes it very useful to the visual arts. By contrast, fine silver particles form the dense black in photographs and in silverpoint drawings. It has also long been used to confer high monetary value as objects (such as silver coins and investment bars) or make objects symbolic of high social or political rank. Silver salts have been used since the Middle Ages to produce a yellow or orange colors to stained glass, and more complex decorative color reactions can be produced by incorporating silver metal in blown, kilnformed or torchworked glass.
Currency
Main articles: Silver coin and Silver standard
Silver, in the form of electrum (a gold–silver alloy), was coined to produce money around 700 BC by the Lydians. Later, silver was refined and coined in its pure form. Many nations used silver as the basic unit of monetary value. In the modern world, silver bullion has the ISO currency code XAG. The name of the pound sterling (£) reflects the fact it originally represented the value of one pound Tower weight of sterling silver; other historical currencies, such as the French livre, have similar etymologies. During the 19th century, the bimetallism that prevailed in most countries was undermined by the discovery of large deposits of silver in the Americas; fearing a sharp decrease in the value of silver and thus the currency, most states switched to a gold standard by 1900. In some languages, such as Sanskrit, Spanish, French, and Hebrew, the same word means both silver and money.
The 20th century saw a gradual movement to fiat currency, with most of the world monetary system losing its link to precious metals after Richard Nixon took the United States dollar off the gold standard in 1971; the last currency backed by gold was the Swiss franc, which became a pure fiat currency on 1 May 2000. During this same period, silver gradually ceased to be used in circulating coins. In 1964, the United States stopped minting their silver dime and quarter. They minted their last circulating silver coin in 1970 in its 40% half-dollar.
In 1968, Canada minted their last circulating silver coins which were the 50% dime and the 50% quarter. The Royal Canadian Mint still makes many collectible silver coins with various dollar denominations. In addition to Canada, the United States and many other countries continue to mint silver coins that are collected for their bullion and numismatic value. The U.S. coin is known as the "Silver Eagle".
Silver is used as a currency by many individuals, and is legal tender in the US state of Utah. Silver coins and bullion are also used as an investment to guard against inflation and devaluation.
Jewelry and silverware
Shallow silver bowl, Persian, 6th century BC (Achaemenid). The deeper depressions reperesent lotus buds, an Egyptian motif. Walters Art Museumcollections.
Main articles: jewelry and silversmith
Jewelry and silverware are traditionally made from sterling silver (standard silver), an alloy of 92.5% silver with 7.5% copper. In the US, only an alloy consisting of at least 90.0% fine silver can be marketed as "silver" (thus frequently stamped 900). Sterling silver (stamped 925) is harder than pure silver, and has a lower melting point (893 °C) than either pure silver or pure copper.[9] Britannia silver is an alternative, hallmark-quality standard containing 95.8% silver, often used to make silver tableware and wrought plate. With the addition of germanium, the patented modified alloy Argentium Sterling silver is formed, with improved properties, including resistance to firescale.
Sterling silver jewelry is often plated with a thin coat of .999 fine silver to give the item a shiny finish. This process is called "flashing". Silver jewelry can also be plated with rhodium (for a bright, shiny look) or gold (to produce silver gilt).
Silver is a constituent of almost all colored carat gold alloys and carat gold solders, giving the alloys paler color and greater hardness.[23] White 9 carat gold contains 62.5% silver and 37.5% gold, while 22 carat gold contains a minimum of 91.7% gold and 8.3% silver or copper or other metals.
Historically, the training and guild organization of goldsmiths included silversmiths, as well, and the two crafts remain largely overlapping. Unlike blacksmiths, silversmiths do not shape the metal while it is red-hot, but instead, work it at room temperature with gentle and carefully placed hammer blows. The essence of silversmithing is to take a flat piece of metal and to transform it into a useful object using different hammers, stakes and other simple tools.
While silversmiths specialize in, and principally work silver, they also work with other metals, such as gold, copper, steel, and brass. They make jewelry, silverware, armor, vases, and other artistic items. Because silver is such a malleable metal, silversmiths have a large range of choices with how they prefer to work the metal. Historically, silversmiths are mostly referred to as goldsmiths, which was usually the same guild. In the western Canadian silversmith tradition, guilds do not exist; however, mentoring through colleagues becomes a method of professional learning within a community of craftspeople.
Traditionally, silversmiths mostly made "silverware" (cutlery, tableware, bowls, candlesticks and such). Only in more recent times has silversmithing become mainly work in jewelry, as much less solid silver tableware is now handmade.
Solar energy
Solar modules mounted on solar trackers
About 20g of silver is used in every crystalline solar photovoltaic panel made. Silver is also used in plasmonic solar cells. 100 million ounces of silver are projected for use by solar energy in 2015.
Silver is the reflective coating of choice for concentrated solar power reflectors. In 2009, scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and SkyFuel teamed to develop large curved sheets of metal that have the potential to be 30% less expensive than today's best collectors of concentrated solar power by replacing glass-based models with a silver polymer sheet that has the same performance as the heavy glass mirrors, but at much lower cost and weight. It also is much easier to deploy and install. The glossy film uses several layers of polymers, with an inner layer of pure silver.
Air conditioning
In 2014 researchers invented a mirror-like panel that, when mounted on a building, acts like an air conditioner. The mirror is built from several layers of wafer-thin materials. The first layer is silver, the most reflective substance on Earth. On top of this are alternating layers of silicon dioxide and hafnium oxide. These layers improve the reflectivity, but also turn the mirror into a thermal radiator.
Water purification
Silver is used in water purifiers. It prevents bacteria and algae from building up in filters. The catalytic action of silver, in concert with oxygen, sanitizes water and eliminates the need for chlorine. Silver ions are also added to water purification systems in hospitals, community water systems, pools and spas, displacing chlorine.
Dentistry
Silver can be alloyed with mercury at room temperature to make amalgams that are widely used for dental fillings. To make dental amalgam, a mixture of powdered silver and other metals such as tin and gold is mixed with mercury to make a stiff paste that can be adapted to the shape of a cavity. The dental amalgam achieves initial hardness within minutes, and sets hard in a few hours.
Photography and electronics
The use of silver in photography, in the form of silver nitrate and silver halides, has rapidly declined due to the lower demand for consumer color film from the advent of digital technology. From the peak global demand for photographic silver in 1999 (267,000,000 troy ounces or 8304.6 metric tonnes) the market had contracted almost 70% by 2013.
Some electrical and electronic products use silver for its superior conductivity, even when tarnished. The primary example of this is in high quality RF connectors. The increase in conductivity is also taken advantage of in RF engineering at VHF and higher frequencies, where conductors often cannot be scaled by 6%, due to tuning requirements, e.g. cavity filters. As an additional example, printed circuits and RFID antennas can be made using silver paints, and computer keyboards use silver electrical contacts. Silver cadmium oxide is used in high-voltage contacts because it can withstand arcing.
Some manufacturers produce audio connector cables, speaker wires, and power cables using silver conductors, which have a 6% higher conductivity than ordinary copper ones of identical dimensions, but cost much more. Though debatable, many hi-fi enthusiasts believe silver wires improve sound quality.
Small devices, such as hearing aids and watches, commonly use silver oxide batteries due to their long life and high energy-to-weight ratio. Another usage is high-capacity silver-zinc and silver-cadmium batteries.
In World War II, there was a shortage of copper and silver borrowed from the United States Treasury for electrical windings for several production facilities including those of the Manhattan Project; see below under History, WWII.
Glass coatings
Telescopic mirrors
Mirrors in almost all reflective telescopes use vacuum aluminum coatings. However thermal or infrared telescopes use silver coated mirrors because of silver's ability to reflect some types of infrared radiation more effectively than aluminum, as well as silver's ability to reduce the amount of radiation actually emitted from the mirror (its thermal emissivity).
Silver, in protected or enhanced coatings, is seen as the next generation metal coating for reflective telescope mirrors.
Windows
Using a process called sputtering, silver, along with other optically transparent layers, is applied to glass, creating low emissivity coatings used in high-performance insulated glazing. The amount of silver used per window is small because the silver layer is only 10–15 nanometers thick. However, the amount of silver-coated glass worldwide is hundreds of millions of square meters per year, leading to silver consumption on the order of 10 cubic meters or 100 metric tons/year. Silver color seen in architectural glass and tinted windows on vehicles is produced by sputtered chrome, stainless steel or other alloys.
Silver-coated polyester sheets, used to retrofit windows, are another popular method for reducing light transmission.
Other industrial and commercial applications
This Yanagisawa A9932J alto saxophone has a solid silver bell and neck with a solid phosphor bronzebody. The bell, neck, and key-cups are extensively engraved. It was manufactured in 2008.
Silver and silver alloys are used in the construction of high-quality musical wind instruments of many types. Flutes, in particular, are commonly constructed of silver alloy or silver plated, both for appearance and for the frictional surface properties of silver.
Silver's catalytic properties make it ideal for use as a catalyst in oxidation reactions, for example, the production of formaldehyde from methanol and air by means of silver screens or crystallites containing a minimum 99.95 weight-percent silver. Silver (upon some suitable support) is probably the only catalyst available today to convert ethylene to ethylene oxide (later hydrolyzed to ethylene glycol, used for making polyesters)— an important industrial reaction. It is also used in the Oddy test to detect reduced sulfur compounds and carbonyl sulfides.
Because silver readily absorbs free neutrons, it is commonly used to make control rods to regulate the fission chain reactionin pressurized water nuclear reactors, generally in the form of an alloy containing 80% silver, 15% indium, and 5% cadmium.
Silver is used to make solder and brazing alloys, and as a thin layer on bearing surfaces can provide a significant increase in galling resistance and reduce wear under heavy load, particularly against steel.
Biology
Silver stains are used in biology to increase the contrast and visibility of cells and organelles in microscopy. Camillo Golgiused silver stains to study cells of the nervous system and the Golgi apparatus. Silver stains are used to stain proteins in gel electrophoresis and polyacrylamide gels, either as primary stains or to enhance the visibility and contrast of colloidal goldstain. Different yeasts from Brazilian gold mines, bioaccumulate free and complexed silver ions. A sample of the fungus Aspergillus niger was found growing from gold mining solution; and was found to contain cyano metal complexes; such as gold, silver, copper iron and zinc. The fungus also plays a role in the solubilization of heavy metal sulfides.
Medicine
Main article: Medical uses of silver
The medical uses of silver include its incorporation into wound dressings, and its use as an antibiotic coating in medical devices. Wound dressings containing silver sulfadiazine or silver nanomaterials may be used to treat external infections. Silver is also used in some medical applications, such as urinary catheters and endotracheal breathing tubes, where there is tentative evidence that it is effective in reducing catheter-related urinary tract infections and ventilator-associated pneumoniarespectively. The silver ion (Ag+
) is bioactive and in sufficient concentration readily kills bacteria in vitro. Silver and silver nanoparticles are used as an antimicrobial in a variety of industrial, healthcare and domestic applications.
Investing
Silver coins and bullion are used for investing. Mints sell a wide variety of silver products for investors and collectors. Various institutions provide safe storage for large physical silver investments, and various types of silver investments can be made on the stock markets, including mining stocks. Silver bullion bars are sold in a wide range of ounces, provided by various mints and mines around the world. Silver coins and bullion bars are generally 99.9% pure, and labeled with ".999".
Clothing
Silver inhibits the growth of bacteria and fungi on clothing, such as socks, so is sometimes added to reduce odors and the risk of bacterial and fungal infections. It is incorporated into clothing or shoes either by integrating silver nanoparticles into the polymer from which yarns are made or by coating yarns with silver. The loss of silver during washing varies between textile technologies, and the resultant effect on the environment is not yet fully known.
Believe me when I tell you the above list of uses for silver is the short list! I could list more from various other sources but then this article would be several pages long. I am sure you understand by now that silver is more than just money.
But why Bigdad is silver 100x cheaper than platinum when it has 10x more industrial applications? My answer is because of its monetary properties. The Banksters are deathly scared of silver becoming a monetary metal again so they are suppressing the price. The other reason is companies that use silver in their products are also not interested in seeing the price rise 100x . So there are many people interested in keeping the silver price suppressed. How much longer can they keep the price of silver under $15 an ounce? Not long in my opinion. There are no longer stockpiles of silver to draw from and mining companies like First Majestic are beginning to get wise regarding the price suppression and are holding some of their recently mined silver in reserve. Also India has awoken to silver as a cheaper alternative to gold when it comes to a store of wealth. If an Indian farmer can receive 70 ounces of silver as opposed to 1 ounce of gold for the same price, then as long as he has room available for storage, he is now going for the 70 ounces of silver!
In the early 15th century, the price of silver is estimated to have surpassed $1,200 per ounce, based on 2011 dollars. Take a look at the chart below of the historical prices of silver for the past 600 years!
As you can see from the above chart silver was worth more than gold at one time. That time is coming soon again. As far a platinum is concerned, silver at a minimum should at least be at a 1 to 1 ratio right now with platinum which would make it $1,189 per oz. Silver will trade in a free market at some point so you have to have your physical silver on hand as it will happen in the blink of an eye. Better to be early than one minute too late!