Silver wire?

[mr.theman]

Made an interesting find today. Someone threw out a big box full of electrical components, ie blank circut boards, diodes, resisters ect ect ect. Anyway there were a few spools of wire and one was particularly heavy. I stripped the insulation off a peice of it and it sure has that silver look to it. It is 22 awg wire. My question is do they make silver wire? How would I find out for sure if this is silver and how would I go about selling it for the silver value if it is. It is a 1000 foot spool.

Thanks for the info,
Mr.T

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A History of Mining on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska - Grab it through Amazon!

[warsawdaddy]

Sure it's not nickel or chrome?

 

[blurr]

silver plated copper wire maybe? I've heard of the military using silver wire in missile silos etc... Snip a piece and see if it is made up of one composition.

John

 

[Farmercal]

They don't use silver to make wire. They might quit using copper if the price keeps going up. Are you sure it's not aluminum?

 

[blurr]

They don't use silver to make wire. They might quit using copper if the price keeps going up. Are you sure it's not aluminum?

Silver wire is used in certain applications. http://leyin.en.alibaba.com/product/200035485/200793061/Silver_Wires/Silver_Wire.html
Aluminum is another possibility, and probably more likely than silver.

 

[mr.theman]

silver plated copper wire maybe? I've heard of the military using silver wire in missile silos etc... Snip a piece and see if it is made up of one composition.

John

It is the same all the way through. I don't think it is aluminum, I have stripped a lot of wire and seen a lot of aluminum wire and this doesn't look the same. It really has that "silver" look to it. Most likely it's not silver but I would like to know for sure. I know there is a chemical test for gold, is there a similiar way to test silver?

Mr.T

 

[blurr]

silver plated copper wire maybe? I've heard of the military using silver wire in missile silos etc... Snip a piece and see if it is made up of one composition.

John

It is the same all the way through. I don't think it is aluminum, I have stripped a lot of wire and seen a lot of aluminum wire and this doesn't look the same. It really has that "silver" look to it. Most likely it's not silver but I would like to know for sure. I know there is a chemical test for gold, is there a similiar way to test silver?

Mr.T

There sure is, but I don't know off hand the specifics. It involves nitric acid, I think. Kinda nasty stuff. Does the spool give any information? Usually the insulation will give some information. I guess if it were silver, I can't see someone throwing it out, but you never know.

John

 

[Hemisteve]

High end speaker wire years ago was Nickle/Silver.
Was typ. 18awg or larger though.

Steve

 

[markmopar]

[/quote]

I know there is a chemical test for gold, is there a similiar way to test silver?
[/quote]

clip a piece and take it to a coin/jewelery/pawn shop. they will be able to test it for you.

 

[ringding]

I heard that silver was the second best conducter behind gold. The reason copper is used is because it is cheaper. There are ways of testing it.

 

[2muchstuff]

What you've got is called tinned copper wire. It is coated with a thin layer of tin to make soldering easier and for corrosion resistance.

 

[pepperpump]

Sounds like aluminium wire to me

 

[Digginman]

With all those circrit boards and compnents, are you sure it isn't solder?? Some of that is up to 70% silver. We use 4 different compsitions where I work, all contain silver.

DM

 

[Dosamigos]

It's anyone's guess just from a description. I'd take a sample to a jeweler for a physical evaluation.

 

[1962Vdub]

Cut it is it copper in color in the middle I am a electrician and I personally never heard of silver wire and Ive been doing it for 12 years.I can ask the owner of the company if he ever heard of it and repost his response.