MadSci Network: Chemistry |
I recently saw a sales ad on TV for a metal plate which you use to clean silver without polish. You put the plate in the sink, add a couple of tablespoons of ordinary salt and fill the sink with hot water. Any tarnished silver immersed in the water and making contact with the metal plate is cleaned so quickly you can see the tarnish disappearing. If this is some form of electrolysis, where is the circuit (no batteries or wires involved)? How does it work and what metal is the plate made of? Other, related, questions. If this process is so great (and on the face of it, it looks much preferable to polishing), why hasn't it supplanted polish? I can't help feeling that it, too, removes silver with the tarnish just like ordinary polish, but would it remove more, or less?
Re: An electrolytic silver tarnish remover?
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