Silver coin in a water bottle. Does it keep stuff from growing?

Daniel Dorn

Daniel Dorn

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I recently heard this, and was wondering if this has any practical use, or even works.

I'm thinking keeping a 2L bottle or two of H20 in my car with a silver dime in it. Anyone have any experience with this? I could easily do a google search, but I thought I'd share this tidbit, in case folks haven't heard of it before.

Have at it, folks...:D I'm interested to hear what's up.
 
The silver in coins is not pure silver so there is that. It used to be that folks would put coins in a water barrel or in a well to keep the water good. I don't know if there is any scientific fact behind it. Look up colloidal silver.
 
I know that silver is used in water filters to inhibit algae and bacterial growth, but I doubt that a silver coin would have much effect. Urban legend?

I suppose you could try an experiment. Put two same size containers of water in the sun. One with a silver coin and one without and see what happens.
 
I'm not sure what the purity on a silver dime is, probably depends on the year. It would probably work (is it's going to work at all) if you went out a bought a 1oz. silver Eagle as those are about as pure as you're going to get (.999). Markets down on silver and you can get them for a little over $20 now. They're a little bigger than a half-dollar, so you can't fit them in all bottles.
 
US silver coins used to be 90% silver. There were some Kennedy half dollars that were 90%, 79% and then 40%. Then the gubmint took a penny, flattened it out and
pretended that it was money.
 
Getting silver isn't a problem, as I collect silver rounds, and have several dollars-worth of 90% silver US coins, including dimes, quarters, halves and dollars.

I may just set up that experiment, and drop a dime in one 2-Liter and use another as a control. Of couse, I may just have to bleach the coins, to ensure that THEY are clean, or does that go against the logic of the anti-microbial properties of silver?

My main concern is that I hate the taste of bleach in my water, and would like to keep clean water clean, or at least tasty.
 
I've heard of folks way back putting a silver half dollar in the milk jug to keep if from going off. No idea if it worked, or if folks back then just needed an excuse to keep the milk going a bit farther.

Silver kills some bacteria, but it comes down to surface area, I'd think that the bug would be able to grow faster than they would get killed by bumping into the coin. That is if a solid piece of silver gives off enough ions to do so. the silver in a water filter is in a form to allow maximum surface area. "Colloidal silver" does kill bacteria, but the health benefits are debatable, given the required concentrations and the expense of obtaining that level of active chemical in the water. Also the smurf thing.
 
the hospital I work at spend big money to install and maintian 2 of this systems I test and maintain them weekly.
each one of the blue ionisation units (total of 8 in the picture on the right has $3K of silver in it)
http://tarn-pure.com/products
Roy
 
I make my own collodial silver, it's distilled water with 2 silver rods placed in it with a electric charge put threw the water for about 3 hours. Your not supposed to consume more than a tablespoon or 2 a day. 10 oz is a little much, and I have heard of people turning blue from over doing it.
 
You might try getting some high purity silver wire from a jewelry supply. Or maybe some silver wool if they make it.

.999+ silver wool is available $$$, .999 30 ga silver wire is available at 2-3 x spot.
 
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gadgetgeek said:
I've heard of folks way back putting a silver half dollar in the milk jug to keep if from going off. No idea if it worked, or if folks back then just needed an excuse to keep the milk going a bit farther.

Silver kills some bacteria, but it comes down to surface area, I'd think that the bug would be able to grow faster than they would get killed by bumping into the coin. That is if a solid piece of silver gives off enough ions to do so. the silver in a water filter is in a form to allow maximum surface area. "Colloidal silver" does kill bacteria, but the health benefits are debatable, given the required concentrations and the expense of obtaining that level of active chemical in the water. Also the smurf thing.
Click to expand...

I think you've hit the nail on the head with the surface area factor. The colloidal silver has a lot of surface area (very small particle size) that contacts with water flowing through it. I would be happy to put you all to sleep if you want an explanation on surface area vs. size and reaction surface :D
I am not sure myself if silver ions (in solution) is the main mechanism for cleaning the water or (from my limited understanding) it is the silver surface itself, meaning it is a a reaction on the surface of the silver.
 
You could, of course, occasionally agitate the water bottle, so that the water was circulated better and came in to contact with the silver.
 
numbersman said:
You could, of course, occasionally agitate the water bottle, so that the water was circulated better and came in to contact with the silver.
Click to expand...

My guess is that it won't be enough because the surface area of the coin is just not large enough to treat the water, even with agitation/stirring. I googled "surface area colloidal silver" and it seemed to explain the high reactivity that colloidal particle size affords, but these were commercial sites some some of it is snake oil.
 
You can try an expensive old wives tale or you could use a drop of cheap bleach. ;) I'm highly skeptical of things like this. If it were true, don't you think backpackers around the world would be carrying silver instead of filters and chemicals? It doesn't pass the litmus test of human nature. If something really worked everyone would use it.
 
Id be more worried about the bacteria that is on money , and just the thought of where the coins have been carried before they get to me ..

I personally use a very very small amount of kondies crystals / potassium permanganate , very light pink , if Im going to store water for any length of time in the car usually .

Picked the habit up from my grandfather who in turn picked it up from some US service folk when they were over here in WWII or so he said .
 
Shotgun said:
You can try an expensive old wives tale or you could use a drop of cheap bleach. ;) I'm highly skeptical of things like this. If it were true, don't you think backpackers around the world would be carrying silver instead of filters and chemicals? It doesn't pass the litmus test of human nature. If something really worked everyone would use it.
Click to expand...
I think your rationale is false: good ideas are ignored all the time.
 
Silver as a Antimicrobial agent is a wives tale?
Err no..
Silver is the ONLY known effective treatment for Fully Resistant Strep infections..
Its used to line ship tanks to keep water potable... nano particles are used in wound dressings to stop infections.. and wound and post op infections are the NUMBER ONE single killer though out human history... even today.
Silver plating is now being added to anything that is poked into the human body for an extended time frames.. like catheters where they have shown to VASTLY reduce the incidence of Urinary tract infections. Silver nanoparticles are used on clothing to inhibit bacteria growth and BO.

Nothing has been shown to be resistant to silver.. which is amazing because it has been used by humans to treat infections and water though out our ENTIRE history.

Silver isnt very toxic.. but yes.. you can turn blue if you consume it internally in large amounts. however even then it hasnt been shown to actually be dangerous... you are just blue... only proven example of silver causing harm is silver implanted into the body, over long time frames cancer can develop.


Would I trust a 1oz silver coin to disinfect water.... yes.. after I filtered it removing any large particulates then left it for a few weeks to months.
making it basicly useless for water purification.

HOWEVER... one water is treated its very easy for it to become reinfected... a bird flying overhead for example doing a poop can release particles in the air that will end up in the water after you have boiled it or otherwise sterilized it.
Even sterilized water unless filtered, still contains organic compounds which provide fuel for reintroduced microbes.
Silver ions happen to form though nitrate and Phosphate compounds in water... provided by organic reactions in sunlight silver phosphates and nitrates can breakdown releasing silver ions and even splitting water creating free oxygen for a oxidizing environment silver attacks in many many ways and we dont actually understand many of them despite widespread study of silver attack vectors.

so the question is
Do I trust silver to keep already treated water drinkable for extended periods of time.
YES
Silver will keep already clean water potable and there is no risk of Argyria, you can even swallow the coin without risk(besides a sore ahole).. cutting it up into tiny bits is another matter, dont do it unless its for external use such as adding to water and boiling wound dressing in it and then using the silver impregnated dressings to attempt to counter infection.
 
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http://www.quikclot.com/QuikClot-Products/QuikClot®-Sport™.aspx

http://www.quikclot.com/QuikClot-Products/QuikClot®-Sport-Silver™.aspx


I went through this with my Dr. . Originally he said no, it has zero anti-bacterial properties. So them i told him that i have heard, years ago, a silver dollar was put into milk jugs to help keep the milk from spoiling as quickly, before refrigeration, that the lactic acid in the milk acted/reacted & basically made a "collodial silver type" condition. So, the next time i went to the Dr. , I brought one of each of the "Quickclot" with me & showed him the one with silver in it. He was amazed or so he seemed. Basically, i think they do not want you to treat yourself. It is all about the $$$$$$ & some things will actually hurt you if you don't know what you are doing. Silver, in my research, has a long history of anti-bacterial uses. As with anything, it can be over used and over dosed (blue man). Big difference between parts per million & parts per billion & so on. If in doubt dont do it.
 
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