Why does sterling silver jewelry tarnish?
Although it’s beautiful, and more importantly, economical, silver does have one major drawback-it tarnishes. The rate at which it tarnishes varies depending on a bunch of factors – mostly chemicals it comes in contact with – including laundry detergent from your clothes, perfume, hairspray, and strangely enough, eating a lot of shrimp (apparently when you do, your body release a chemical that causes silver to tarnish). Also exposure to the air just sitting in your jewelry box, unworn, will cause it to tarnish.
Sterling silver jewelry tarnishes but don’t worry, it can easily be cleaned back to its natural luster and shine. The tarnish is due to interactins between silver and sulfides in the air. First it takes on a golden hue, then turns black. Humidity, air pollution, and higher sulfide levels in general are the culprits of sterling silver tarnishing. Try walking out your door on a summer day in Florida, and within minutes your sterling silver jewelry will start to blacken! The problem is easily solved, though, with buffing and polishing. You may want to use chemically treated cloths which make the job easier and faster. Nevermind the ever-changing sterling silver jewelry trends, the fact remains that this metal is beautiful, versatile, and easy to take care of! Some tips for cleaning your Sterling Silver Jewelry Cleaning Silver Jewelry with professional Tarnish Remover Be sure the tarnish remover is safe for pearls or soft stones like opal or turquoise if you have that kind of jewelry. Most
Sterling silver is a copper-silver alloy and is somewhat softer than most gold alloys. Therefore, it is more likely to be abraded to black dust by movement between the jewelry and the skin or clothing. It tends to oxidize easily and rapidly, reacting with hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the air to form silver sulfide (Ag2S). This chemical reaction alters the natural color of silver to a yellowish brass color, known as tarnish. To delay and minimize this oxidative reaction, a thin coat of plating is used. How can I remove tarnish and restore luster of silver jewelry? Tarnish and dirt on your fine sterling silver jewelry can be removed gently using a jewelry polishing cloth. The cloth is chemically treated with nontoxic cleaning and polishing agents especially formulated for fine silver in order to restore the luster of the silver. These jewelry polishing clothes can be purchased from our ACCESSORIES category. It may also be necessary to buff, polish and re plate the silver jewelry. A few peop
Silver jewelry usally would be oxdized once they get fully touched with the air/water/sweat and other chemicals.
two ways to prevent the silver jewelry from tarnish:
1) To make a white rhodium plated on the surface of silver jewelry. Usually, silver jewelry with rhodium plating will have a longer finish of shiny, I have few pieces of silver jewelry samples in the show room, which keep a shiny surface at least 1 year and a half.
2) To ask your local jeweler repolish the silver jewelry and they will shiny as new again. from www.boxofsilver.com
Sterling silver is a copper-silver alloy and is somewhat softer than most gold alloys. Therefore, it is more likely to be abraded to black dust by movement between the jewelry and the skin or clothing. It tends to oxidize easily and rapidly, reacting with hydrogen sulfide (H2S) in the air to form silver sulfide (Ag2S). This chemical reaction alters the natural color of silver to a yellowish brass color, known as tarnish. To delay and minimize this oxidative reaction, a thin coat of plating is used.
