Silver is a chemical element with the symbol "Ag" and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal. It occurs as a free metal (native silver) as well as in various minerals, such as argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is produced as a by-product of copper, gold, lead, and zinc mining.
Silver has been known since antiquity, and it is used as a currency metal. It has long been valued as a precious metal used in ornaments and jewellery and in high-value tableware and utensils (hence the term "silverware"). Today, it is used in photographic film, electrical contacts and conductors, and mirrors. Elemental silver is also used to catalyze chemical reactions. Silver is antimicrobial, and dilute solutions of silver nitrate and other silver compounds are used as disinfectants. Although silver has largely been supplanted by other treatments, the antiseptic properties of silver are still a useful tool in the prevention and treatment of sepsis and infections caused by antibiotic-resistant microorganisms such as MRSA.
Silver has been known since ancient times. It is mentioned in the Book of Genesis, and slag heaps found in Asia Minor and on the islands of the Aegean Sea indicate that silver was being separated from lead as early as the 4th millennium BCE. Europeans found a huge amount of silver in the New World in the now Mexican State of Zacatecas (discovered in 1546) and Potosí (Bolivia, also discovered in 1546), which triggered a period of inflation in Europe. The conquistador Francisco Pizarro was said to have resorted to having his horses shod with silver horseshoes due to the metal's abundance, in contrast to the relative lack of iron in Peru. Silver, which was extremely valuable in China, became a global commodity, contributing to the rise of the Spanish Empire. The rise and fall of its value affected the world market.
Silver mining was a driving force in the settlement of western North America, with major booms for silver and associated minerals (lead, mostly) in the galena ore silver is most commonly found in. Notable silver rushes were in Colorado, Nevada, Cobalt, Ontario, California and the Kootenay region of British Columbia, notably in the Boundary and "Silvery" Slocan. The first major silver ore deposits in the United States were discovered at the Comstock Lode in Virginia City, Nevada, in 1859.
Silver is found in native form, combined with sulfur, arsenic, antimony, or chlorine and in various ores such as argentite (Ag2S) and chlorargyrite ("horn silver," AgCl). The principal sources of silver are copper, copper-nickel, gold, lead and lead-zinc ores obtained from Canada, Cobalt, Ontario, Mexico (such as Batopilas), Peru, Bolivia, Australia and the United States.
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