Why Electric Charge is Important in Colloidal Silver?

Purevon colloidal silver is made of the purest steam-distilled water and 99.9% pure silver bullion.  The size of the particles ranges from 1 – 1000 nanometers in diameter.  1000 nanometers = 1 micron.  Silver particles are formed from the electrolysis of the silver at low voltage, such that the silver is dissolved into the water.  When the silver is dissolved by the flow of electric current, some of the silver particles produced are larger than 1 micron and are later filtered out.  Silver particles will only hold a negative charge.  The electric charge is essential for the effectiveness of the colloidal silver.                                                                                  

The illustration of a silver atom above shows the 47 electrons in orbit around the nucleus of protons and neutrons. The additional electrons in the outer orbit represent the added charge found in electrochemical colloidal silver.  The electric charge keeps the solution stable by keeping the particles uniformly separated in the water.  Like charges repel each-other, keeping the particles from combining with their neighbors to form larger clumps of particles.  If the particles clump together, they will fall out of the solution and settle to the bottom of the container.  “The motion of individual particles is continually changing direction as a result of random collisions with the molecules of the suspending medium [water], other particles and the walls of the containing vessel. Each particle pursues a complicated and irregular zig-zag path.  When the particles are large enough for observation, this random motion is referred to as Brownian motion, after the botanist who first observed this phenomenon with pollen grains suspended in water.”1

“They behave in a liquid in a manner very similar to the molecules and atoms of a gas, and are in constant movement, traveling at a high velocity and repeatedly colliding with each other.”2  It is the electric charge that keeps the particles of silver separated from each-other; and keeping them from combining with each-other into larger particles.  A colloidal solution will continue in Brownian motion, and it will hold its electric charge indefinitely, so long as it is not disturbed by outside forces.  If it is properly stored, colloidal silver will have a very long shelf-life. It should be protected from freezing and temperature extremes.  If colloidal silver is to be stored for an extended period of time, metal foil and tightly sealed metal cans can be used to protect bottles of colloidal silver from radio waves and other forms of electromagnetic waves.  Silver is a very sensitive element which can be affected by light, x-rays, radiation, radio waves, and most any other sort of electromagnetic field.  There are both man-made and natural electromagnetic forces everywhere.  Silver is the active component in photographic film, because of its sensitivity to light.  Silver is also used in radiation detectors, and x-ray film. The natural color of pure colloidal silver is the nearly clear, transparent yellow shown in the photograph at the beginning of this article.  The clear appearance can be deceptive, as a red laser-pointer will be visible when shone through colloidal silver in a darkened room, revealing that otherwise invisible particles are present in the water.  The laser reveals suspended nano-particles, which are not present in plain water.

The Experimental Filtering Test

In order to find out whether the particles of silver in Purevon colloidal silver were clustering together to form larger particles, a test was performed to filter out any particles larger than 1000 nanometers, or 1 micron.  1 micron is the upper limit for the size of a particle in a colloidal solution, by definition.  The colloidal silver liquid to be tested was taken from stock, and had not been treated specially.  A water-filter housing fitted with a plastic 1-micron filter element was connected to a tube leading from a large bucket.  For the bucket, HDPE plastic was chosen because it is one of the least reactive plastics available; and it comes in a special “food-grade” type, which helps rule-out any contamination from the containers.  The colloidal silver was poured into the upper bucket and drained by gravity-flow through the 1-micron filter, and into the lower bucket.  A clear plastic housing was chosen for the filter in order that anything filtered out of the liquid might be readily visible on the white filter element.  The flow through the filter is from the outside of the filter element, to the inside, so anything which does not pass through the element will remain on the outside of it.  This process was considered as a means of removing any particles larger than nano-sized, so that the filtered liquid would be nothing but colloidal silver; and free from any larger particles.

Results

The results of the experiment were very unexpected.  The colloidal silver was pale yellow in color when it entered the filter.  There initially appeared to be no change in the color after filtration.  Within an hour, after filtration, the colloidal silver darkened, and went through a rainbow of color changes, from amber yellow, to pink, to blue, and finally darker brownish-grey.  Sediment appeared on the bottoms of the containers holding the filtered liquid.  An examination of the filter element showed no trace of discoloration and no visible or measurable material filtered out.

Conclusion

Firstly, there was no evidence that the colloidal silver had any measurable amount of particles larger than 1 micron.  The initial yellow color indicates that the particle size would have been quite small:  1 – 10 nanometers; the size which best absorbs indigo light, leaving only its inverse yellow color visible.

Secondly, the change in color which took place during the hour following filtration seems to indicate that the particles of silver were undergoing the process of re-coagulation; thus becoming larger.  This process apparently does not come about instantaneously because it could be the result of the silver particles re-organizing themselves as a result of their negative electric charge having been stripped by the filter element.  Thomas Corriher, of Health Wyze Media, who has studied extensively in the field of electronics engineering, and author of Defy Your Doctor and be Healed, stated that the filter element, although seemingly very thin, would have created a comparatively very long path for nano-particles to pass through.  In other words, if the nano-particles were of human scale, the filter would be likened to a tunnel miles long; more than sufficient to discharge the particles passing through it.

Finally, we must conclude that the filtering damaged the colloidal silver by stripping some of its negative electric charge.  Consequently, the particles slowly re-coagulated, forming larger particles; the change in the color of the liquid was the result.  “The continuous change in colour from yellow to blue corresponds to a change in the absorption maximum of the shorter to longer wave-lengths with a decreasing degree of dispersion. This is a general phenomenon in colloid chemistry illustrating the relation between colour and degree of dispersion.”3  We conclude that excessive filtration reduces the electric charge of colloidal silver; along with some of its strength and effectiveness.

Safety and Effectiveness

The loss of electric charge does not render colloidal silver completely ineffective, and does not render it toxic or unsafe to use.  The electric charge keeps the silver particles suspended in the water, and it keeps the particles in the lower end of the nano-particle range.  Various other methods of preparing silver liquids are used, such as those combining silver with protein molecules, silver salts, and powdered silver, but I do not have any credible published writings which would support their safety.

Filter-less Gravity Filtration

Purevon’s filtration process had been to use a 20-micron (20 times larger than that used in the experiment) filter to remove the small amount of larger silver particles produced by the electrolytic process.  The 20-micron filter would typically have been used twice; once immediately after the solution was made; and then again before it was to be bottled.  The 20-micron filter is a good method because it is small enough to prevent any sediment, and large enough to keep the removal of the electric charge to a minimum.  The resulting pale yellow liquid is safe and quite effective as an antimicrobial agent.  Purevon now uses gravity filtration instead of paper or plastic filtering elements to completely eliminate filtering as a cause of loss of electric charge.  Colloidal silver is allowed to stand in a container until all of the particles not suspended in the water settle to the bottom by gravity alone.  The liquid is never subjected to the electron-stripping effect of a filter element.  The colloidal silver is then drawn off just above the bottom of the tank, leaving the sediment behind.  The resulting colloidal silver is the transparent pale yellow but nearly clear liquid shown above.  It should have the utmost effectiveness and longest shelf-life.

Brian Humphreys, Owner

Footnotes

1. Introduction to Colloid and Surface Chemistry, 4th Ed., Duncan J. Shaw, Elsevier Science Ltd., London, 1966, p. 24.

2.  The Use of Colloids in Health and Disease, Alfred B. Searle, London, Constable and Company, Ltd., 1920, p. 5.

3. Practical Colloid Chemistry, Wolfgang Ostwald, Methurn and Company, Ltd., London, 1926, p. 69.