Silver (Ag)

Silver is a soft, white, lustrous transition metal possessing the highest electrical conductivity of any element.

Core Principles & Analysis

• Silver has been mined and worked since antiquity, with extraction from lead ores in Anatolia dating back roughly 5,000 years.
• It has the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and visible-light reflectivity of any metal.
• Silver is used in electronics, solar photovoltaic cells, brazing alloys, and antimicrobial wound dressings, and it once underpinned film photography.

Specifications & Metrics

• NUM: 47
• SYMBOL: Ag
• CATEGORY: Transition Metal
• ATOMIC MASS: 107.868 u
• ELECTRONEGATIVITY: 1.93 Pauling
• ATOMIC RADIUS: 172 pm
• IONIZATION ENERGY: 7.576 eV
• ELECTRON AFFINITY: 1.302 eV
• MELTING POINT: 1234.93 K
• BOILING POINT: 2435 K
• DENSITY: 10.501 g/cm³
• ELECTRON CONFIGURATION: [Kr]5s1 4d10
• OXIDATION STATES: +1
• STANDARD STATE: Solid
• GROUP BLOCK: Transition metal
• YEAR DISCOVERED: Ancient