Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Thu, 11 Mar 1999 02:27:39 -0500 (EST)
On Wed, 10 Mar 1999, Sil Horwitz wrote:
> At 99/03/10 05:55 PM -0500, Judy wrote:
> >
> >At $147/lb, that's not quite $9 /ounce, or 30 cents a gram (did I figure
> >that right -- $9 divided by 29???). Then wouldn't the silver oxide amount
> >to a greater weight than the silver nitrate you started with, because
> >oxide is *added*? Or does oxidizing take away weight? (I had chemistry in
> >the 10th grade, & they hardly had the periodic table then. )
>
> Ag (silver) has an atomic weight of 107, O (oxygen) is 16, and N (nitrogen) is
> 12. The total weight, then, of AgNO3 (that's a sub 3, meaning 3 oxygens) is 107
> + 12 + 48, or 167. Ag2O is 2 x 107 or 214 + 16 or a total of 230. But - as you
> need two of the silver nitrate molecules to make one of the oxide, the
> precipitate will have a relative weight of 115. In total you will have less
> oxide. Incidently, the other results of this reaction are sodium nitrate and
Sil, you're giving me a really hard time today. First you think I'm dumber
than I really am, now you think I'm smarter than I really am. I don't
understand your "explanation" above, and would really really like to.
Maybe we don't have to do atomic weights though? I'm sure they didn't have
them when I went to school and I'm saving my remaining brain cells for
emergencies. I wanted to know how much silver oxide we'd get from say, an
ounce of silver nitrate if you followed instructions for combining with
sodium hydroxide. Can you give an estimate?
TIA,
Judy
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