How to test if conductor is copper or silver based

Easy!

1.)Get a bowl large enough for submerging a piece of each. Place each sample in the bowl.

2.) Pour vinegar(any kind) into the bowl.

3.) Wait three minutes.

4.) If one of the sample turns greenish, that's copper. If one turns whitish, that's silver.

5.) If both of them turns whitish or greenish, or no change in color at all, then, the vinegar is fake!

Just kidding!

Why don't you scrape an inner surface where it will not be visible (if it bother's you) and examine the shavings with a magnifying glass and the mark you made. Silver should not have any other color present except silver of course unlike copper shavings where it should be obvious with a magnifying glass. Just a suggestion only of course.

regards,

i think some of these experiments are variations of those used at the salem witch trials..happy halloween.

In order to do the Density / Displacement test you need several things.....usually inaccessible to most persons.
1. Source of REALLY pure water. Distilled is best.
2. Temperature control. Everything should be at same temp.
3. Metler Balance or equivilent....a scale which goes to 5 or 6 significant digits.
4. A way to meaure extremely small volumes of water. 3 or 4 millilitres ought to do it.

Magfan - or 1000 banana plugs (just kidding).

Silver is currently ~10/oz.

If you paid less than that by Troy weight then for sure it is not pure silver.

You should be able to tell the difference between copper and silver by eye.

John C.