Does sterling silver rust when its in water?
Answer:
No, I wear sterling silver rings and earings everday and they don't rust, they just get a little dingy...they will need to be cleaned with jewelry cleaner.
rust is probably not the best way to describe it, but yes it will, although very slowly. the reaction is just a slow oxidation of the top layer of silver, and since there is some oxygen dissolved in water, it will slowly react with it (especially if there are some acid/basic salts in the water to speed up the process)
Sterling silver is a combination of copper and silver. I dont think it will oxidize in that combination.
The simple answer is no. Silver does not rust.
The truth is that rust as we know it is only oxidized Iron, most if not all metals will oxidize, given enough exposure to oxygen. Silver gets tarnished over time, and there are ways to remove the tarnish with out damaging the silver.
Some other metals like Aluminum oxidize so rapidly that they form a protective barrier that protects the rest from oxidization. If you take a piece of Aluminum and rub its surface you scratch the surface and although you may not be able to see the scratches they will have taken some of the aluminum oxide off of the surface and given what ever was used to rub the aluminum a new black coating.
No, only Ferrous (iron) metals will rust by forming oxides of iron which give the red colour to the iron on rusting.
Sterling silver is virtually pure silver and will 'Tarnish' by forming a very thin coating of silver and copper oxides.
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