Content

• Steps
• Tips
• Warnings

Nowadays, mirrors are made by spraying aluminum onto glass. But in earlier times, for example in the 19th century, aluminum was not available, and mirrors were made using silver. You can make your own mirror using commercially available silver nitrate.

Steps

1. 1 Take 1 gram of silver nitrate and 1 gram of sodium hydroxide (sodium hydroxide), place each in a separate container and add water to dissolve.
2. 2 Mix both solutions together. This will precipitate silver oxide as a black precipitate.
3. 3 Add ammonia to the resulting solution in such an amount that the precipitate is completely dissolved.
4. 4 Add 4 grams of sugar and stir the solution until it is completely dissolved.
5. 5Submerge the object you want to silver in the solution, or pour the solution onto the tray on which the object lies (if it is large, such as a window pane)
6. 6 Heat the solution SLOWLY without letting it boil. Boiling will rip the silver away from the surface.
7. 7 Gradually, the solution will turn creamy, and this will mean that the glass is covered with silver; remove the glass object from the solution and wipe off the silver coating from areas where you do not need it.
8. 8 If the silver does stick to an area where you don't want it, you can remove it with hydrochloric acid.

Tips

• Cover the areas you don't want to silver with tape.
• The glass must be VERY clean.Grease and dirt will cause the silver to adhere poorly to the glass surface.
• For more detailed information on reagents, type "Tollens reagent" in the Internet search engine.
• This method is designed to produce mirrors with a silver back surface. In everyday life, most mirrors belong to this type. The method is not suitable for obtaining mirrors with a silver front surface.
• If you want a thicker layer of silver, or if you have large objects for silvering, increase the above numbers proportionally.

Warnings

• Try not to delay the procedure for more than two hours, otherwise the solution may turn into an explosive mixture of silver nitride, imide and amide.
• The solution will give off ammonia vapor when heated, so do it outdoors or in a well-ventilated area.
• Hydrochloric acid, if it comes into contact with the skin, will cause it burn.
• When finished, wash off all chemicals and wash all surfaces big the amount of water.
• Do this away from children and pets.