Dartmouth Toxic Metal Research: Silver - Metal of Many Faces
Tradition, investment, high-tech performer Like its sister metal — gold — silver has been used since ancient times in coins, jewelry, ornaments, and utensils. Silver has been part of the economic and monetary systems of all major cultures and traded in virtually every corner of the inhabited world, from ancient Rome, Greece, and Egypt, to Europe, Asia and the Indian subcontinent of the Middle Ages, and the modern Americas. Silver has been hauled across continents by camel and horseback, loaded onto wooden sailing ships that crossed the Atlantic, carried in cargo planes and armored trucks and is most likely jingling today in your pocket. Silver even plays a role in popular culture, in such expressions as “every cloud has a silver lining.”
People have lost their lives for silver. The New Testament claims that Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ for 30 pieces of silver. In the New World, pirates brought down ships from the tip of South America to Newfoundland to plunder their silver cargo and, sometimes, to murder their crews.
In the modern world, silver is an investment for speculators and a tradition for fresh-faced young couples who order wedding silverware.
With the advent of photography and computers, silver divorced itself from gold. No longer a metal to be coveted simply for its value and beauty, silver became the darling of the modern age. An excellent conductor of electricity and a principal element in photographic processing, silver is an integral part of computers, electronic equipment and the filmmaking process. It is found in most households, perhaps in the china cabinet or kitchen drawer, but more likely, in the DVD player, palm pilot or laptop.