Does Sterling Silver Rust In Salt Water

Salt will also corrode silver and will darken the surface and or dull the finish after enough exposure so besides the obvious concern of losing your jewelry in the ocean rings have a maddening tendency to fall off in cold water environments i d say leave the bling at home.

Does sterling silver rust in salt water. The short answer to this question is yes you can if you know it s sterling silver. Well the answer is not necessarily who doesn t but maybe what doesn t. Wear nitrile protective gloves while cleaning the silver. Yep what he said.

Water in and of itself doesn t cause the damage. Although the pure silver in sterling silver does not react and tarnish at room temperature the copper added can easily react with the salt and sulfur in the air making sterling silver rust. Water generally does not damage sterling silver. Sterling silver jewels looks great with your beachwear but don t go in the water with them.

Soak any silver that has been damaged by salt or salt water in ammonia for 10 minutes. They will tarnish and in some cases become damaged by exposure to pool and saltwater. Over time it turns black then develops a thick black encrusted layer those old silver finds will dissolve break if you aren t careful. Chemically speaking tarnish is silver sulfide and it can be reduced back to silver in a classic redox electrochemical reaction.

Here s my public service announcement. Silver will tarnish but not oxidise or rust. Most of the silver i find in the saltwater is either black or green. To start metals such as copper pewter and sterling silver are more likely to tarnish from salt water and sweat so when possible avoid those and stick to gold rose gold white gold and platinum should you be lucky enough to own an item made of the celebrity approved metal.

It is quite resistant to corrosion and does not oxidize easily although it readily forms a surface tarnish of silver sulfide. Silver is a pure metal which doesn t rust because it doesn t contain iron. But water does cause silver to oxidize darken more quickly and what type of water and the chemicals in it has an impact on how much it will cause your silver change color. Corrosion doctors explains that silver is a brilliant gray white metal that is quite soft and malleable.

No more than 10 minutes ever and yes the water has to be boiling. Perform the cleaning in a well ventilated area.