How to test if conductor is copper or silver based


Hi all,

Was wondering if anyone knows of any low-cost or no-cost procedure for testing if a conductor is copper or silver. I bought some banana plugs for cheap but claimed to be made of "pure" copper or silver. I am just curious if the claim is valid.

Thanks in advance,

Kenobi
kenk168
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.
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.