Cleaning silver with aluminum
Will the silver get broken down (disappear a little bit) when cleaning silver utensils with boiling water, baking soda and aluminium?
Best Answer
Aluminium is just a catalyst (is not consumed) in this reaction
Silver sulfides are in theory reformed back into silver, so none should be lost. In practice the sulfides will have moved the silver away from the main surface with pitting etc, so some silver will be lost, but there is no product that can put the silver back in place anyway
A large surface area of aluminium, and plenty of heat improves the reaction
In the days before marketing companies selling us crap in cans, people used to use a purpose made sheet of (rather impure) aluminum for this very purpose, it had hundreds of tiny holes punched into it to improve the surface area
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Quick Answer about "Cleaning silver with aluminum"
Tarnished silver is no match for this aluminum foil “recipe.” Bring one liter of water, one tablespoon of baking soda, and one piece of aluminum foil to a boil. Drop silverware in the pot for 10 seconds (longer if it's very tarnished), then remove using kitchen tongs. Magic!Is cleaning silver with aluminum foil safe?
You can easily clean silver with aluminum foil, baking soda and hot water. This method uses electrolytic action instead of chemical-polish abrasion and removes the tarnish from oxidized silver without removing any of the underlying metal. This is great for heavily tarnished silver.How do you clean sterling silver with aluminum?
The ingredients and method are simple:How do you clean silver rings with aluminum foil?
Cleaning silver with baking soda \u0026 aluminum foil. (Very Easy!)
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Answer 2
Electrochemical de-tarnishing removes very little silver compared to mechanical methods. However, you may get uneven cleaning and color changes from the way the silver recrystallizes.
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