Colloidal silver consists of electrically charged silver ions in water, typically ranging in size from 1nm to 10nm. The smaller the particles, the better they can be absorbed by the body. Colloidal silver is a dispersion composed of pure silver and mineral-free water.
Ionic and Colloidal Silver
Silver particles dispersed in water that are larger than 1 atom and smaller than 100,000 nanometres are referred to as colloidal silver. Colloidal means that a material in this particle size is equally distributed in another material without bonding with it. In contrast, ionic silver refers to silver ions dissolved in water. Silver ions are silver atoms that have lost an electron and are therefore "unstable".
Effect of Ionic vs. True Colloidal Silver
Ionic and colloidal silver have similar effects on the skin. A lower concentration with high colloid content and small particle size can be used to avoid overexposure to silver.
A deciding factor for the quality and effectiveness of silver water is the colloid content (at least 50%), the small particle size, and the large surface area.
PPM (Concentration)
With mineral/metal content in liquid, the most important unit of measure is the unit ppm (parts per million). This indicates the weight of the substance per litre (mg/l) and thus its concentration.
The concentration may be measured using a conductivity metre, however, since the conductivity of ionic silver is higher than that of colloidal silver, the resulting measurement may be skewed. As a result, the silver concentration may be smaller than an unadjusted measurement. Another method of concentration measurement is called "ICP" (inductively coupled plasma) and requires a specialised device. When buying colloidal silver, it is important to obtain information regarding the method used to measure the concentration of silver.
Effective Surface Area and Particle Size
The silver content or concentration alone is not the decisive factor for the effectiveness of the product. On the contrary, it is advantageous if the silver content can be reduced while maintaining effectiveness. The most important factor is the "effectively active surface area," which represents the total surface area of all silver particles in the liquid. For example, with 1 particle of 1mm in a litre, the total surface area is only 6mm²/l.
The particle size of 0.65nm is the smallest possible size for silver particles, as at least 19-20 atoms are required for particle formation. Crystal Colloidals' colloidal silver possesses this smallest size and achieves a huge surface area of 7.1m²/L at a beneficial low concentration of 10 ppm. If you were to distribute 2 litres of Crystal Colloidals' colloidal silver on an area of 1 hectare (10,000m²), it would result in 1.1 billion silver particles per square millimetre (mm²).
Homemade Colloidal Silver?
There are technically methods of producing "colloidal" silver with only a 9 volt battery and silver wire at home, but such homemade silver will be predominantly ionic. With household appliances, a colloidal silver content of only 1-25% is possible. Commercial production processes may utilise similar methods with only an increase in tension and output, thus achieving similarly low colloid content. Such products may also only contain 10-20% colloid content, but are still referred to as colloidal. Moreover, homemade silver water typically only contains large particle sizes. Only specialised devices can produce a product with smaller particles. A larger particle size requires a higher concentration for a similar effect, but risks the possibility of overexposure to the body.
Silver Proteins
Some products with a high concentration (30-20,000ppm) use additives (e.g. gelatine, casein, or soy) in silver water to prevent larger silver particles from settling on the bottom of the bottle. Silver proteins (large protein particles with protein compounds) may form as a result of such additives.
One can identify silver proteins on the basis of the following characteristics:
1. Light orange to almost black colour (the higher the ppm content, the darker the liquid)
2. When the product is shaken, a layer of foam forms, which lingers for a few minutes
3. Mostly high concentration (30ppm and higher)
Our genuine colloidal silver from Crystal Colloidals does not contain any silver proteins.
