Re: video teaching the golden colloidal silver production, step-by-step

Hi sukhoi50,

I'm very happy to see you continue to participate in this thread. I was genuinely concerned that my very long post would come across negatively as a result of the amount of information in it. And so I want to apologize for that.

As for the video and the method, I want to add, that despite the seemingly large list of questions and/or concerns, that I truly believe you are well on your way to making high quality Colloidal Silver solution. And so to help you get there, here are some ideas that may prove useful:

CURRENT CONTROL:
Current regulator diodes. You can buy 5x 1.4mA Current Regulator Diode for aprox. 9 USD on eBay. - I usually buy them in bulk(25 or more) from an electronics shop in my Country but I've purchased many from eBay before that without any problems.

Current regulator Diodes comes in various shapes and sizes. But it's often easier to connect several in parallel so as to get the exact current you're looking for rather than to use a single one in most cases.

OXIDATION:
The bad news is that oxidation is a by-product of the electrolysis process. And so under the current terms, there is little one can do beyond that of additives to avoid the formation of silver oxides in our solution.
The good news however is that we can take measures to mitigate(reduce) the effects during processing.

And perhaps the simplest method comes from heating the water to aprox. 98c (may vary depending on atm). Which effectively causes the release of free standing oxygen in the solution and thus, lowering the potential for oxidation within the process. This change can be observed when the deposits on the cathode come in form of silver gray rather than the common black residue that is seen with room temp solution.

I'd also add, that the heating and reduction of oxygen in the solution(distilled water) reduces the oxide creation potential on the cathode as well. And so it becomes a two fold insofar as oxides go in this particular case. (there are other chemical changes brought on by the heating of the solution, though not relevant to your question).

The second and final step in minimizing the creation of oxides comes from the physical cleaning of the cathode. To which I'd add, many people tend to try and avoid this based on the work over what could prove to be long periods of time(processing). However... what many people fail to acknowledge, is that the total time needed to complete a batch of Colloidal Silver needn't be more than 1 hr in OR requiring more than two(2) change(s) of cathode to complete. - Though importantly, I would add, that Colloidal Silver can be made much faster than in one(1) hour p/liter. And so there's that to consider.

Having said all that, I'd say there is much room for improvement insofar as processing efficient goes.

WIRE DISTANCE:
The distance between electrodes really isn't complicated if we approach it from a load point of view. ie, in the world of electrolysis the electrochemical potential of the LVDC cell will reach an optimum at a given voltage/resistance. And so all that is needed to determine our optimum distance is to observe our load voltage(as you did in the video) at a given current. Which in this case, we would base on a 1mah p/sq in. of wetted surface anode(cathode is irrelevant) standard. - which is quite conservative.

ie, if you have 2.1 total square inches of Anode submerged in your solution. You can effectively run your cell at 2mah with confidence. And so all that is left is to monitor and maintain your load voltage at the electrode. ie, An electrolysis cell working at 30v +/- 3v will remain effective at no less than 9v DC. At which point the process will begin to degrade at the cost and quality of your colloid solution. And so the objective becomes a matter of maximizing the electrochemical reaction from the anode into the solution. In which case, you will need to adjust; cathode size, distance and wetted area, so as to maintain an optimum working voltage for as long as possible within limits of optimal working conditions. - Such as: when the oxide accumulation poses little to no risk of contaminating the solution. - (I tend to avoid anything more than a visible layer).

I hope this wasn't to confusing as it sounds far more complicated than it truly is once you have a grasp of what's happening in your flask.

And so, in summary, there are no hard standards from which to go by given that every process will undoubtedly vary in; solution quantity, electrode size, or surface area and/or water preparations(hot vs room temp) etc. etc. To which I'd add, a happy medium seems to be that of starting with a given electrode distance, and working with observation from there.

ie, if the cell has passed maximum a potential(voltage dropping bellow 9v) before the cathode accumulated enough oxides to warrant cleaning or swapping out. Then you can increase the distance between your electrodes to compensate. Similarly, if the process drops bellow maximum potential(-9v), you can mark your time and opt for a change or cleaning of electrode(cathode). At which point, you can replace the original cathode(s) with a smaller dia. and wetted size one for the next phase of your process. This will in turn, allow you to continue processing your solution while maintaining an optimum voltage(s) within the cell. Rinse and repeat, until the solution reaches your theoretical or calculated limits and you are done. - I should add, that it isn't likely that you would ever meet the theoretical limit of 20ppm with naked(or additive free) colloidal silver solutions, as they tend to loose stability past the 18ppm mark. Which stands whether we apply heat or not(as heat and the lack of oxygen allows for higher saturations), it remains that the solution will return to it's original chemistry upon cooling and thus cause it to; plate, pool or drop-out.

Hope this helps.

PS. I've never done the math, but there are optimums numbers in terms of; wetted cathode size,a solution quantities and voltages, so as to maximize(or reduce) production times and efficiency. I've focused my attention on 2L batches since I've started my own research and so I I'm afraid I don't have any helpful data to offer on 1L batches. However, I'm confident that there may be someone around the forums with a knack for calculation who could plug-in some numbers and come up with some theoretical values. Tweet