@291fifth said:
Is the shoeshine man recommending silver?
Yes. And everyone else. Everyone is jumping into silver. That can't end well.
This time is different because the refineries are already backed up.
This time is always different... until it isn't.
The run up in silver prices is already reducing demand. At a high enough price, you will see 100% recycling in solar power and eventually 100% replacement with copper or other metals.
The laws of economics haven't changed. Nor has the psychology of FOMO.
.
No.
Silver compounds are photo-sensitive. That is why it was used in photographic film.
Copper compounds are not photo-sensitive. This is why silver is important for solar cells and copper is not (except for power transmission wires).
That is completely incorrect. The silver in solar panels is not used to collect photons. It's used in a silver paste to create electrical connections on the BACK of the actual photocells. The use of copper requires a different manufacturing process and is slightly less efficient than silver, but price matters.
Yes, work is going on to replace the silver in solar cells with copper (for all the power transmission parts).
The substitution is not commercially available at this time and it is not known when (or if) it will be.
But when it comes to the actual conversion of light energy into electrical energy, work is going on to use silver halides to improve efficiency and eliminate toxic lead.
@291fifth said:
Is the shoeshine man recommending silver?
Yes. And everyone else. Everyone is jumping into silver. That can't end well.
This time is different because the refineries are already backed up.
This time is always different... until it isn't.
The run up in silver prices is already reducing demand. At a high enough price, you will see 100% recycling in solar power and eventually 100% replacement with copper or other metals.
The laws of economics haven't changed. Nor has the psychology of FOMO.
.
No.
Silver compounds are photo-sensitive. That is why it was used in photographic film.
Copper compounds are not photo-sensitive. This is why silver is important for solar cells and copper is not (except for power transmission wires).
That is completely incorrect. The silver in solar panels is not used to collect photons. It's used in a silver paste to create electrical connections on the BACK of the actual photocells. The use of copper requires a different manufacturing process and is slightly less efficient than silver, but price matters.
Yes, work is going on to replace the silver in solar cells with copper (for all the power transmission parts).
The substitution is not commercially available at this time and it is not known when (or if) it will be.
But when it comes to the actual conversion of light energy into electrical energy, work is going on to use silver halides to improve efficiency and eliminate toxic lead.
There is actually even more work going on using organic solar cells, so this experimental work is not a driving force for silver consumption.
While that is a clever attempt to try and clean up your faulty photography science, perovskites themselves are largely experimental. Commercial solar panels are still largely silicon.
And photography works not because of any unique ability of silver to absorb light. Silver doesn't absorb light any better than iron. Photography was based on the photoiniated redox chemistry of silver salts which is different than light harvesting.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
@291fifth said:
Is the shoeshine man recommending silver?
Yes. And everyone else. Everyone is jumping into silver. That can't end well.
This time is different because the refineries are already backed up.
This time is always different... until it isn't.
The run up in silver prices is already reducing demand. At a high enough price, you will see 100% recycling in solar power and eventually 100% replacement with copper or other metals.
The laws of economics haven't changed. Nor has the psychology of FOMO.
.
No.
Silver compounds are photo-sensitive. That is why it was used in photographic film.
Copper compounds are not photo-sensitive. This is why silver is important for solar cells and copper is not (except for power transmission wires).
That is completely incorrect. The silver in solar panels is not used to collect photons. It's used in a silver paste to create electrical connections on the BACK of the actual photocells. The use of copper requires a different manufacturing process and is slightly less efficient than silver, but price matters.
Yes, work is going on to replace the silver in solar cells with copper (for all the power transmission parts).
The substitution is not commercially available at this time and it is not known when (or if) it will be.
But when it comes to the actual conversion of light energy into electrical energy, work is going on to use silver halides to improve efficiency and eliminate toxic lead.
There is actually even more work going on using organic solar cells, so this experimental work is not a driving force for silver consumption.
.
Yes, the photosynthesis technique works for nature. But I suspect it will always be limited in efficiency.
I predict that, eventually, the solar power industry will come around to the use of silver due to its light sensitivity and potential for much higher power conversion efficiency (PCE).
@291fifth said:
Is the shoeshine man recommending silver?
Yes. And everyone else. Everyone is jumping into silver. That can't end well.
This time is different because the refineries are already backed up.
This time is always different... until it isn't.
The run up in silver prices is already reducing demand. At a high enough price, you will see 100% recycling in solar power and eventually 100% replacement with copper or other metals.
The laws of economics haven't changed. Nor has the psychology of FOMO.
.
No.
Silver compounds are photo-sensitive. That is why it was used in photographic film.
Copper compounds are not photo-sensitive. This is why silver is important for solar cells and copper is not (except for power transmission wires).
That is completely incorrect. The silver in solar panels is not used to collect photons. It's used in a silver paste to create electrical connections on the BACK of the actual photocells. The use of copper requires a different manufacturing process and is slightly less efficient than silver, but price matters.
Yes, work is going on to replace the silver in solar cells with copper (for all the power transmission parts).
The substitution is not commercially available at this time and it is not known when (or if) it will be.
But when it comes to the actual conversion of light energy into electrical energy, work is going on to use silver halides to improve efficiency and eliminate toxic lead.
There is actually even more work going on using organic solar cells, so this experimental work is not a driving force for silver consumption.
.
Yes, the photosynthesis technique works for nature. But I suspect it will always be limited in efficiency.
I predict that, eventually, the solar power industry will come around to the use of silver due to its light sensitivity and potential for much higher power conversion efficiency (PCE).
.
You really don't understand silver. Silver is not "light sensitive" any more than any other metal. Silver salts did photo chemistry which was a one time chemical conversion. You can't reuse film.
There are many different nanoparticles, including silver, that can harvest light. But it's arguable that silver is better at it than any other metal.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
@291fifth said:
Is the shoeshine man recommending silver?
Yes. And everyone else. Everyone is jumping into silver. That can't end well.
This time is different because the refineries are already backed up.
This time is always different... until it isn't.
The run up in silver prices is already reducing demand. At a high enough price, you will see 100% recycling in solar power and eventually 100% replacement with copper or other metals.
The laws of economics haven't changed. Nor has the psychology of FOMO.
.
No.
Silver compounds are photo-sensitive. That is why it was used in photographic film.
Copper compounds are not photo-sensitive. This is why silver is important for solar cells and copper is not (except for power transmission wires).
That is completely incorrect. The silver in solar panels is not used to collect photons. It's used in a silver paste to create electrical connections on the BACK of the actual photocells. The use of copper requires a different manufacturing process and is slightly less efficient than silver, but price matters.
Yes, work is going on to replace the silver in solar cells with copper (for all the power transmission parts).
The substitution is not commercially available at this time and it is not known when (or if) it will be.
But when it comes to the actual conversion of light energy into electrical energy, work is going on to use silver halides to improve efficiency and eliminate toxic lead.
There is actually even more work going on using organic solar cells, so this experimental work is not a driving force for silver consumption.
.
Yes, the photosynthesis technique works for nature. But I suspect it will always be limited in efficiency.
I predict that, eventually, the solar power industry will come around to the use of silver due to its light sensitivity and potential for much higher power conversion efficiency (PCE).
.
And it's not "photosynthesis". They are organic semiconductors not chlorophyll.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
@291fifth said:
Is the shoeshine man recommending silver?
Yes. And everyone else. Everyone is jumping into silver. That can't end well.
This time is different because the refineries are already backed up.
This time is always different... until it isn't.
The run up in silver prices is already reducing demand. At a high enough price, you will see 100% recycling in solar power and eventually 100% replacement with copper or other metals.
The laws of economics haven't changed. Nor has the psychology of FOMO.
.
No.
Silver compounds are photo-sensitive. That is why it was used in photographic film.
Copper compounds are not photo-sensitive. This is why silver is important for solar cells and copper is not (except for power transmission wires).
That is completely incorrect. The silver in solar panels is not used to collect photons. It's used in a silver paste to create electrical connections on the BACK of the actual photocells. The use of copper requires a different manufacturing process and is slightly less efficient than silver, but price matters.
Yes, work is going on to replace the silver in solar cells with copper (for all the power transmission parts).
The substitution is not commercially available at this time and it is not known when (or if) it will be.
But when it comes to the actual conversion of light energy into electrical energy, work is going on to use silver halides to improve efficiency and eliminate toxic lead.
There is actually even more work going on using organic solar cells, so this experimental work is not a driving force for silver consumption.
.
Yes, the photosynthesis technique works for nature. But I suspect it will always be limited in efficiency.
I predict that, eventually, the solar power industry will come around to the use of silver due to its light sensitivity and potential for much higher power conversion efficiency (PCE).
.
You really don't understand silver. Silver is not "light sensitive" any more than any other metal. Silver salts did photo chemistry which was a one time chemical conversion. You can't reuse film.
.
Silver compounds (silver halides) are used in photographic film. Copper is not a functional substitute in photography.
Abstract
Ag/Bi halide double salts, also called rudorffites, constitute a promising path to achieve low-cost, high-efficiency lead-free optoelectronic devices, in particular solar cells. These materials present tunable gaps within the visible range, high short-circuit currents, and interesting efficiencies in outdoor and indoor devices.
There's a lot of speculation going on, but I think economics still works. Higher prices increases recycling and creates substitution incentives
So everyone will send in their cell phones.
Silver is built into the infrastructure. Most of it can never be recycled.
Yes. It's an attractive time to take some profits but most people don't own silver to sell. Any time the buyers are lined up is a good time to sell. But i doubt many are going to take the slim pickings and run. There just isn't as much silver as people think there is. It's already been melted and made into infrastructure and products.
@291fifth said:
Is the shoeshine man recommending silver?
Yes. And everyone else. Everyone is jumping into silver. That can't end well.
This time is different because the refineries are already backed up.
This time is always different... until it isn't.
The run up in silver prices is already reducing demand. At a high enough price, you will see 100% recycling in solar power and eventually 100% replacement with copper or other metals.
The laws of economics haven't changed. Nor has the psychology of FOMO.
.
No.
Silver compounds are photo-sensitive. That is why it was used in photographic film.
Copper compounds are not photo-sensitive. This is why silver is important for solar cells and copper is not (except for power transmission wires).
That is completely incorrect. The silver in solar panels is not used to collect photons. It's used in a silver paste to create electrical connections on the BACK of the actual photocells. The use of copper requires a different manufacturing process and is slightly less efficient than silver, but price matters.
Yes, work is going on to replace the silver in solar cells with copper (for all the power transmission parts).
The substitution is not commercially available at this time and it is not known when (or if) it will be.
But when it comes to the actual conversion of light energy into electrical energy, work is going on to use silver halides to improve efficiency and eliminate toxic lead.
There is actually even more work going on using organic solar cells, so this experimental work is not a driving force for silver consumption.
.
Yes, the photosynthesis technique works for nature. But I suspect it will always be limited in efficiency.
I predict that, eventually, the solar power industry will come around to the use of silver due to its light sensitivity and potential for much higher power conversion efficiency (PCE).
.
You really don't understand silver. Silver is not "light sensitive" any more than any other metal. Silver salts did photo chemistry which was a one time chemical conversion. You can't reuse film.
.
Silver compounds (silver halides) are used in photographic film. Copper is not a functional substitute in photography.
Abstract
Ag/Bi halide double salts, also called rudorffites, constitute a promising path to achieve low-cost, high-efficiency lead-free optoelectronic devices, in particular solar cells. These materials present tunable gaps within the visible range, high short-circuit currents, and interesting efficiencies in outdoor and indoor devices.
If you weren't obsessed with trying to create silver cells that don't exist, you could also find thousands of other combinations.
Multi-juntion III-V semiconductors have reached near 50% efficiency. Single junction silicon is in the mid 20s. No one will EVER use a silver cell with 30% efficiency based on cost. Cost is why silicon is still used and III-V options which have been adding for 30 years has not replaced it. It is also the reason why the interest in organic semiconductors because they have the potential to be cheaper.
There is nothing unique about silver that will lead it to replace silicon. And that becomes even more true as the price of silver climbs. You will end up with zero silver in solar cells.
If this speculation is what's driving the price of silver, there is going to be an ugly crash in the future.
I know. It's different this time.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
There's a lot of speculation going on, but I think economics still works. Higher prices increases recycling and creates substitution incentives
So everyone will send in their cell phones.
Silver is built into the infrastructure. Most of it can never be recycled.
Yes. It's an attractive time to take some profits but most people don't own silver to sell. Any time the buyers are lined up is a good time to sell. But i doubt many are going to take the slim pickings and run. There just isn't as much silver as people think there is. It's already been melted and made into infrastructure and products.
You continue to ignore economics. The more expensive silver becomes, the more it will be replaced. I still have not seen one application of silver that required only silver to do the job. I don't think getting your science from precious metal sites is going to give you a clear picture of the actual science.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
@jmlanzaf said:
There is nothing unique about silver that will lead it to replace silicon.
.
I already pointed out (several times) what is unique about silver halides: sensitivity to light.
This is being investigated for solar cells. It makes sense that silver might eventually be the most efficient way to capture solar energy. Studies to improve efficiency are on-going.
@jmlanzaf said:
There is nothing unique about silver that will lead it to replace silicon.
.
I already pointed out (several times) what is unique about silver halides: sensitivity to light.
This is being investigated for solar cells. It makes sense that silver might eventually be the most efficient way to capture solar energy. Studies to improve efficiency are on-going.
.
That is NOT unique to silver halides. As I have responded several times, the reason it was used for photography was not it's "unique sensitivity " to light. It was the CHEMISTRY initiated by the light absorption. The ONE WAY chemistry initiated by the originally very inefficient light absorption created a latent image of silver metal.
Again, you don't understand the processes involved. Silver halide quantum efficiency is NOT higher than silicon. They are both near 100% in the range of light absorbed. And silicon absorbs virtually the entire visible spectrum. Silver halide has a higher bandgap (1.8 eV) compared to silicon (1.12 eV) so it doesn't absorb the whole solar spectrum.
There is nothing special about silver which is why lead perovskites kick silver perovskites ass. And neither of them are in commercial use, other than maybe NASA, due to cost. Silicon is cheaper.
You can create other materials and move the bandgap around as well as try to engineer more efficient electron- hole separation and minimize defects. But there is NOTHING UNIQUE TO SILVER.
[Side note: there's a reason, poor light absorption, why the original silver films required minutes long exposures. The light absorption was enhanced with "sensitizers", organic light harvesters, and size restriction to expand the absorption range to include the entire visible range in the modern period. And, no, that won't easily help with solar cells due to optical bleaching. ]
And if I must say it, I studied III-V semiconductors in graduate school and did a post- doc at Kodak studying silver halide photo- sensitization.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
@jmlanzaf said:
There is nothing unique about silver that will lead it to replace silicon.
.
I already pointed out (several times) what is unique about silver halides: sensitivity to light.
This is being investigated for solar cells. It makes sense that silver might eventually be the most efficient way to capture solar energy. Studies to improve efficiency are on-going.
.
That is NOT unique to silver halides. As I have responded several times, the reason it was used for photography was not it's "unique sensitivity " to light. It was the CHEMISTRY initiated by the light absorption. The ONE WAY chemistry initiated by the originally very inefficient light absorption created a latent image of silver metal.
Again, you don't understand the processes involved. Silver halide quantum efficiency is NOT higher than silicon. They are both near 100% in the range of light absorbed. And silicon absorbs virtually the entire visible spectrum. Silver halide has a higher bandgap (1.8 eV) compared to silicon (1.12 eV) so it doesn't absorb the whole solar spectrum.
There is nothing special about silver which is why lead perovskites kick silver perovskites ass. And neither of them are in commercial use, other than maybe NASA, due to cost. Silicon is cheaper.
You can create other materials and move the bandgap around as well as try to engineer more efficient electron- hole separation and minimize defects. But there is NOTHING UNIQUE TO SILVER.
[Side note: there's a reason, poor light absorption, why the original silver films required minutes long exposures. The light absorption was enhanced with "sensitizers", organic light harvesters, and size restriction to expand the absorption range to include the entire visible range in the modern period. And, no, that won't easily help with solar cells due to optical bleaching. ]
And if I must say it, I studied III-V semiconductors in graduate school and did a post- doc at Kodak studying silver halide photo- sensitization.
.
Why are silver halides being studied for photon capture in solar power generation ?
Traditional solar cells were very inefficient early-on, but they improved.
Even the best ones are still less than 50% efficiency, however.
Silver perovskites are not very efficient now.
But they (or something similar) may eventually exceed the efficiency of other technologies.
We shall see.
PS: Durability and flexibility (of the panel) are also important in addition to pure efficiency.
@pcgscacgold said:
Just the start of a long term rally in silver. This one has caught a lot of collectors off guard.
Some have sold early and have now devoted their lives to lengthy bearish comments. "10% up? Better hop on the US Coin Forum and defend my life decisions." 😂😂😂
Dealers are getting caught off guard tonight. I see 1960's silver proof sets at $45 and they have $49 worth of silver in them. Same with some graded Morgan's and Peace Dollars. They have $61.50 melt value and are being sold around $70 on dealers sites.
@logger7 said:
A local auction house had a lot of gold and silver coins last week where the consignors were paying 20% for their >items to sell at around melt with the buyer premium! Then the wait until the auction company decides the coast is >clear to send out a check!
My LCS said he was looking for a refiner with operations in ITALY (!) to help with his backlog and ability for the LCS to handle their retail demand.
My local (small refiner) said back in late Oct. that much of the refined gold/gutter currently underway was headed to Italy. RGDS!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
Retiring at 55, what day is today?
@pcgscacgold said:
Dealers are getting caught off guard tonight. I see 1960's silver proof sets at $45 and they have $49 worth of silver in them. Same with some graded Morgan's and Peace Dollars. They have $61.50 melt value and are being sold around $70 on dealers sites.
I've been worried about sellers not shipping. It's got to be annoying to sell at one price and ship at another.
Finally happy I got through life's speed bumps and kept my better bullion. I was once sad to have stacks of 5oz ATB sourced direct in their boxes from the Mint. Certain it was dead money as it was year after year dead money. Hated idea of breaking even. Now I wonder what it will take to cash out ? $400 is interesting, but the demand is global.
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations.[14] This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.[15]
These are hardly all the facts but it's a good start;
@pcgscacgold said:
Just the start of a long term rally in silver. This one has caught a lot of collectors off guard.
Some have sold early and have now devoted their lives to lengthy bearish comments. "10% up? Better hop on the US Coin Forum and defend my life decisions." 😂😂😂
Sold more today at $77 and will sell more in early January. I stated my life decision at $35 per ounce and have executed it as planned with no regrets and no need to justify it. I have no regrets for what I sold or what I still hold. I don't care if it goes to $200 or ounce. I'll gladly sell all the way up until it's gone. You make the plan, you execute the plan.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations.[14] This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.[15]
These are hardly all the facts but it's a good start;
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry. The unique property of the platinum group metals is that they are found unalloyed in nature. That is, by the way, the only reason they became "precious metals". Iron was much more useful, but could only be made useful when primitive man learned to refine metals. Gold and silver were shiny and could be picked up in stream beds.
None of that has anything to do with solar energy conversion, but at least you're trying to learn something. Or maybe trying to find a reason to justify the conceived notion you already have.
Zinc and Magnesium also have "unique" properties unrelated to solar energy.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations.[14] This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.[15]
These are hardly all the facts but it's a good start;
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry. The unique property of the platinum group metals is that they are found unalloyed in nature. That is, by the way, the only reason they became "precious metals". Iron was much more useful, but could only be made useful when primitive man learned to refine metals. Gold and silver were shiny and could be picked up in stream beds.
None of that has anything to do with solar energy conversion, but at least you're trying to learn something. Or maybe trying to find a reason to justify the conceived notion you already have.
Zinc and Magnesium also have "unique" properties unrelated to solar energy.
.
Native silver is somewhat rare (compared to silver sulfides, etc).
When pieces of native silver appear in stream beds, they are usually dull gray, not "bright and shiny".
@jmlanzaf said:
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry.
@Morgan13 said:
Melt them into what, bars?
They will be more saleable as numismatic items. At least thats my opinion.
I think the problem is what you said makes absolute common sense....but if an LCS or dealer has one of the coins I described above and it's at a 5% or 10% or even 15% premium to gold but they may have to wait a few days or weeks or even a month to sell it....or they can just get bullion value TODAY....if they really need the $$$, they would consider it. Yeah, they are leaving some $$$ on the table but if they need it today.....
And if they bought the coin a while back or at a good price and are still somewhat making a profit selling it for melt....no harm, no foul (from their perspective).
You see these 10 ounce gold or silver special commemoratives (maybe they have even larger ones)....they often command premiums of 20-50%....even if the price of gold doesn't move and you have to realize a 30% loss, if you need the $$$ you're gonna consider it. Those things can be VERY difficult to sell at times.
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations.[14] This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.[15]
These are hardly all the facts but it's a good start;
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry. The unique property of the platinum group metals is that they are found unalloyed in nature. That is, by the way, the only reason they became "precious metals". Iron was much more useful, but could only be made useful when primitive man learned to refine metals. Gold and silver were shiny and could be picked up in stream beds.
None of that has anything to do with solar energy conversion, but at least you're trying to learn something. Or maybe trying to find a reason to justify the conceived notion you already have.
Zinc and Magnesium also have "unique" properties unrelated to solar energy.
Back in junior high one of the teachers said that gold is the only metal without isotopes. Chemistry is a fascinating area, somehow a lot less fascinating for most as you start studying esoteric and complicated areas of the subject such as organic chemistry.
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations.[14] This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.[15]
These are hardly all the facts but it's a good start;
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry. The unique property of the platinum group metals is that they are found unalloyed in nature. That is, by the way, the only reason they became "precious metals". Iron was much more useful, but could only be made useful when primitive man learned to refine metals. Gold and silver were shiny and could be picked up in stream beds.
None of that has anything to do with solar energy conversion, but at least you're trying to learn something. Or maybe trying to find a reason to justify the conceived notion you already have.
Zinc and Magnesium also have "unique" properties unrelated to solar energy.
.
Native silver is somewhat rare (compared to silver sulfides, etc).
When pieces of native silver appear in stream beds, they are usually dull gray, not "bright and shiny".
@jmlanzaf said:
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry.
No need for that.
.
"Bright and shiny" meaning metallic looking.
I think there's definitely a need for some general chemistry. For example, you said "flexible" panels were good even though silver halide isn't remotely flexible. You want flexible, then you're back to organic semiconductors.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations.[14] This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.[15]
These are hardly all the facts but it's a good start;
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry. The unique property of the platinum group metals is that they are found unalloyed in nature. That is, by the way, the only reason they became "precious metals". Iron was much more useful, but could only be made useful when primitive man learned to refine metals. Gold and silver were shiny and could be picked up in stream beds.
None of that has anything to do with solar energy conversion, but at least you're trying to learn something. Or maybe trying to find a reason to justify the conceived notion you already have.
Zinc and Magnesium also have "unique" properties unrelated to solar energy.
Back in junior high one of the teachers said that gold is the only metal without isotopes. Chemistry is a fascinating area, somehow a lot less fascinating for most as you start studying esoteric and complicated areas of the subject such as organic chemistry.
Actually, a lot of students prefer organic chemistry. It's very structural and geometric. Of course, some people also hate it for the same reason.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations.[14] This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.[15]
These are hardly all the facts but it's a good start;
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry. The unique property of the platinum group metals is that they are found unalloyed in nature. That is, by the way, the only reason they became "precious metals". Iron was much more useful, but could only be made useful when primitive man learned to refine metals. Gold and silver were shiny and could be picked up in stream beds.
None of that has anything to do with solar energy conversion, but at least you're trying to learn something. Or maybe trying to find a reason to justify the conceived notion you already have.
Zinc and Magnesium also have "unique" properties unrelated to solar energy.
Back in junior high one of the teachers said that gold is the only metal without isotopes. Chemistry is a fascinating area, somehow a lot less fascinating for most as you start studying esoteric and complicated areas of the subject such as organic chemistry.
Actually, a lot of students prefer organic chemistry. It's very structural and geometric. Of course, some people also hate it for the same reason.
I have a retired computer programmer friend who loved the Copi book on logic; of all the courses I took that, "modern algebra" the abstract course, as well as "physical chemistry" bored me to tears. I liked the macro courses focused on top to bottom human experience. Like astronomy--one of the most physically beautiful courses, but as a career, not so much. My parents wanted me to meet Van de Kamp at the Sproul observatory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_van_de_Kamp An accomplished scientist but it turned out that his discovery of "Barnard's star" planet was found to be due to the optics that were assembled and disassembled periodically!
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations.[14] This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.[15]
These are hardly all the facts but it's a good start;
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry. The unique property of the platinum group metals is that they are found unalloyed in nature. That is, by the way, the only reason they became "precious metals". Iron was much more useful, but could only be made useful when primitive man learned to refine metals. Gold and silver were shiny and could be picked up in stream beds.
None of that has anything to do with solar energy conversion, but at least you're trying to learn something. Or maybe trying to find a reason to justify the conceived notion you already have.
Zinc and Magnesium also have "unique" properties unrelated to solar energy.
Back in junior high one of the teachers said that gold is the only metal without isotopes. Chemistry is a fascinating area, somehow a lot less fascinating for most as you start studying esoteric and complicated areas of the subject such as organic chemistry.
Actually, a lot of students prefer organic chemistry. It's very structural and geometric. Of course, some people also hate it for the same reason.
I have a retired computer programmer friend who loved the Copi book on logic; of all the courses I took that, "modern algebra" the abstract course, as well as "physical chemistry" bored me to tears. I liked the macro courses focused on top to bottom human experience. Like astronomy--one of the most physically beautiful courses, but as a career, not so much. My parents wanted me to meet Van de Kamp at the Sproul observatory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_van_de_Kamp An accomplished scientist but it turned out that his discovery of "Barnard's star" planet was found to be due to the optics that were assembled and disassembled periodically!
That's kind of how I ended up in chemistry. Physics was more interesting to me, but I could never see how i could do it as a career. Not just astrophysics, a lot of physics seemed interested in esoteric questions that I couldn't relate to as an 18 year old. At least with chemistry, we were making things and I could relate to the value of things like pharmaceuticals.
Lol. Of course, in retrospect, if i knew i was going to end up an academic, I might have opted for social sciences instead. I always thought it was easier to make that relatable to a half- interested student. At this point in my career, I actual find the psychology/ neuroscience of learning more interesting than any actual subject in teaching. I've occasionally told students that my course feels like a psychology experiment to me.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations.[14] This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.[15]
These are hardly all the facts but it's a good start;
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry. The unique property of the platinum group metals is that they are found unalloyed in nature. That is, by the way, the only reason they became "precious metals". Iron was much more useful, but could only be made useful when primitive man learned to refine metals. Gold and silver were shiny and could be picked up in stream beds.
None of that has anything to do with solar energy conversion, but at least you're trying to learn something. Or maybe trying to find a reason to justify the conceived notion you already have.
Zinc and Magnesium also have "unique" properties unrelated to solar energy.
Back in junior high one of the teachers said that gold is the only metal without isotopes. Chemistry is a fascinating area, somehow a lot less fascinating for most as you start studying esoteric and complicated areas of the subject such as organic chemistry.
Actually, a lot of students prefer organic chemistry. It's very structural and geometric. Of course, some people also hate it for the same reason.
I have a retired computer programmer friend who loved the Copi book on logic; of all the courses I took that, "modern algebra" the abstract course, as well as "physical chemistry" bored me to tears. I liked the macro courses focused on top to bottom human experience. Like astronomy--one of the most physically beautiful courses, but as a career, not so much. My parents wanted me to meet Van de Kamp at the Sproul observatory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_van_de_Kamp An accomplished scientist but it turned out that his discovery of "Barnard's star" planet was found to be due to the optics that were assembled and disassembled periodically!
Oh, and science is messy. I had a friend in grad school who defended his thesis and graduated. 6 months later, another student in the group discovered that his whole thesis work was due to an impurity in his protein and not the protein itself. Oh well, he's still Dr. O'Neill.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
@wondercoin - I’m very curious on your thoughts about first spouse gold coins. I seem to recall you alluding to having anecdotal evidence of some of them being melted years ago. Do you think these will largely disappear?
Cameonut2011: Going back to the first few years of the program, I recall published reports of the melting of thousands of pieces. That was 15+ years ago! Obviously, there were more meltings from there. Especially with these coins trading below spot for many years now, it is likely to get harder and harder in the future to assemble a complete set of these coins in any grade, let alone perfect 70 and with the “First Strike” designation.
Wondercoin.
Please visit my website at www.wondercoins.com and my ebay auctions under my user name www.wondercoin.com.
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations.[14] This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.[15]
These are hardly all the facts but it's a good start;
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry. The unique property of the platinum group metals is that they are found unalloyed in nature. That is, by the way, the only reason they became "precious metals". Iron was much more useful, but could only be made useful when primitive man learned to refine metals. Gold and silver were shiny and could be picked up in stream beds.
None of that has anything to do with solar energy conversion, but at least you're trying to learn something. Or maybe trying to find a reason to justify the conceived notion you already have.
Zinc and Magnesium also have "unique" properties unrelated to solar energy.
.
Native silver is somewhat rare (compared to silver sulfides, etc).
When pieces of native silver appear in stream beds, they are usually dull gray, not "bright and shiny".
@jmlanzaf said:
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry.
No need for that.
.
"Bright and shiny" meaning metallic looking.
I think there's definitely a need for some general chemistry. For example, you said "flexible" panels were good even though silver halide isn't remotely flexible. You want flexible, then you're back to organic semiconductors.
.
No, native silver in a stream bed is dull gray and does not look "bright or shiny or metallic" at all - unless is has been freshly scraped by a rock.
Glass is generally considered to be inflexible, but fiber optic cables are made of it, and they can bend.
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry.
I think there's definitely a need for some general chemistry.
These types of comments won't garner you any admiration.
The current price of silver is $19.67 in inflation-adjusted January 1980 dollars.
The current price of silver is $7.83 in inflation-adjusted 1964 dollars.
All things considered, silver still looks cheap to me.
@wondercoin said:
Cameonut2011: Going back to the first few years of the program, I recall published reports of the melting of thousands of pieces. That was 15+ years ago! Obviously, there were more meltings from there. Especially with these coins trading below spot for many years now, it is likely to get harder and harder in the future to assemble a complete set of these coins in any grade, let alone perfect 70 and with the “First Strike” designation.
Wondercoin.
>
A complete First Spouse set is already out of reach for a huge majority of collectors, with a gold value of about $100,000 for unc. or proof, and $200,000 for both. If the price of gold keeps rising, I doubt that the series will ever be worth much more than their bullion value, no matter how many are melted.
Overdate: You are right about the value of these coins now. You may recall, my plan from about 15+ years ago was to build 10 complete sets of Spouse MS/Proof (when prices were “cheap”) and then wait for the numismatic value to kick in. Proves it is better to be lucky than smart. Didn’t get to build all ten, but I got a few. Didn’t see much in the way of numismatic value rising, but have seen what the base metal rising can do to prices!
Wondercoin.
Please visit my website at www.wondercoins.com and my ebay auctions under my user name www.wondercoin.com.
@wondercoin said:
Overdate: You are right about the value of these coins now. You may recall, my plan from about 15+ years ago was to build 10 complete sets of Spouse MS/Proof (when prices were “cheap”) and then wait for the numismatic value to kick in. Proves it is better to be lucky than smart. Didn’t get to build all ten, but I got a few. Didn’t see much in the way of numismatic value rising, but have seen what the base metal rising can do to prices!
Wondercoin.
>
I thought the winners would be the "Liberty" 4-coin subset of classic obverse designs. Most of them did fetch a premium for a while, but that premium all but vanished as the gold price ramped up.
@cameonut2011 said:
But that assumes that gold prices stay high. I do think the prices will go back down eventually.
That seems unlikely but gold could be at 5,000 when a loaf of bread is $50.
A lot of all silver is in coins, medals, and a few tokens. A lot of the rest are in small coin-like silver bars. If any or all of this becomes seen to be an ideal way to store silver this might be how most of the artefact silver from before 2050 survives. Almost any nice collectible example of anything might be of great interest to collectors.
There sure are a lot of interesting options open to young people today even if opportunities may be reduced.
@wondercoin said:
Overdate: You are right about the value of these coins now. You may recall, my plan from about 15+ years ago was to build 10 complete sets of Spouse MS/Proof (when prices were “cheap”) and then wait for the numismatic value to kick in. Proves it is better to be lucky than smart. Didn’t get to build all ten, but I got a few. Didn’t see much in the way of numismatic value rising, but have seen what the base metal rising can do to prices!
Wondercoin.
With the run-up of precious metal prices, I am surprised as of late to see fewer and fewer offered for sale particulary the APE's and Spouses. I had though the considerably higher bullion prices would shake a bunch of these loose. A recent-today-check on the GC site shows zero spouses and a smattering of APE's listed. As for 'first strike' pieces-which seem to be most popular especially for the spouse issues-it is tough to locate these other than a very few dates for quite some time.
@batumi said:
With the run-up of precious metal prices, I am surprised as of late to see fewer and fewer offered for sale particulary the APE's and Spouses. I had though the considerably higher bullion prices would shake a bunch of these loose. A recent-today-check on the GC site shows zero spouses and a smattering of APE's listed. As for 'first strike' pieces-which seem to be most popular especially for the spouse issues-it is tough to locate these other than a very few dates for quite some time.
Dealers that buy them are cashing out immediately and sending them to the refiners. No dealer that buys these for 98% of spot is putting them in the case when spot gold can drop $200 in a day, nor sending them for auction given the fees and uncertainty.
@batumi said:
With the run-up of precious metal prices, I am surprised as of late to see fewer and fewer offered for sale particulary the APE's and Spouses. I had though the considerably higher bullion prices would shake a bunch of these loose. A recent-today-check on the GC site shows zero spouses and a smattering of APE's listed. As for 'first strike' pieces-which seem to be most popular especially for the spouse issues-it is tough to locate these other than a very few dates for quite some time.
Dealers that buy them are cashing out immediately and sending them to the refiners. No dealer that buys these for 98% of spot is putting them in the case when spot gold can drop $200 in a day, nor sending them for auction given the fees and uncertainty.
Most dealers can't even offer a small premium for better stuff because everyone is selling. Even his regular buyers are using the time to sell a little. Instead of our dregs being sent off to refineries its much more random. It's the grind of machinery.
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations.[14] This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.[15]
These are hardly all the facts but it's a good start;
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry. The unique property of the platinum group metals is that they are found unalloyed in nature. That is, by the way, the only reason they became "precious metals". Iron was much more useful, but could only be made useful when primitive man learned to refine metals. Gold and silver were shiny and could be picked up in stream beds.
None of that has anything to do with solar energy conversion, but at least you're trying to learn something. Or maybe trying to find a reason to justify the conceived notion you already have.
Zinc and Magnesium also have "unique" properties unrelated to solar energy.
.
Native silver is somewhat rare (compared to silver sulfides, etc).
When pieces of native silver appear in stream beds, they are usually dull gray, not "bright and shiny".
@jmlanzaf said:
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry.
No need for that.
.
"Bright and shiny" meaning metallic looking.
I think there's definitely a need for some general chemistry. For example, you said "flexible" panels were good even though silver halide isn't remotely flexible. You want flexible, then you're back to organic semiconductors.
.
No, native silver in a stream bed is dull gray and does not look "bright or shiny or metallic" at all - unless is has been freshly scraped by a rock.
Glass is generally considered to be inflexible, but fiber optic cables are made of it, and they can bend.
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry.
I think there's definitely a need for some general chemistry.
These types of comments won't garner you any admiration.
.
As a chemist, I don't consider metallic to mean "shiny". Malleability would be the key difference between the platinum metals and any of the metal minerals. For example, pyrite is shiny but brittle. That made it easy to make jewelry out of silver and gold in its native state but impossible to make bronze swords until they learned to refine the minerals.
You can't bend silver halide, it's a crystalline material not a glass.
Was i looking for admiration? I'm just trying to limit the disinformation.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
@privatecoin said:
With corporate greed if replacing silver is possible it would have been done last month or the month before.
It is an economics issue more than a technology issue. It's a different process. You can't just dump copper into your silver line. You need to reconfigure the process so it has to be economically cost effective to reconfigure your production line. I don't know what that price point is, but every $ rise in silver gets you closer to it.
Copper is not quite as good as silver either, so you also have to balance the performance penalty to the price difference.
It's actually very similar to the transition to Palladium in catalytic converters. It was always possible to use either, but until platinum was near $1000 and Palladium was half that that they reconfigured the manufacturing process. [Ironically, not long after, Palladium got ahead of platinum. Lol. ]
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Telephoned the local coin shop 11 days ago. Lots of notes, nice chat.
They pay less for any slabbed USA bullion than they pay for same in original government package.
Without OGP costs seller $25 a pop.
Less than zero premium for slabbed 70's on down no matter who certified it/them as they pay below spot.
Plastic not so fantastic ?
Also they are no longer buying silver jewelry.
98% spot on American Silver Eagles. They used to pay $6 a pop over spot.
5oz ATB $3 under spot times 5 ounces = $15 under. No OGP ? Less $25 so spot minus $40 a puck.
Was plus $30 & 5 ounces spot.
In the meantime I saw new EV quick charge battery tech will use 1 kilo silver per EV.
Kilo ATM sell is at $2,700 ish at $77 ish ounce.
Buffalo 24k 98% spot. No OGP less $25.
Was spot plus $100 each & OGPs were not required or desired.
Comments
.
Yes, work is going on to replace the silver in solar cells with copper (for all the power transmission parts).
The substitution is not commercially available at this time and it is not known when (or if) it will be.
But when it comes to the actual conversion of light energy into electrical energy, work is going on to use silver halides to improve efficiency and eliminate toxic lead.
Advancements and prospects for eco-friendly, high-performance silver bismuth halide solar cells:
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2025/sc/d4sc07955h
.
There is actually even more work going on using organic solar cells, so this experimental work is not a driving force for silver consumption.
While that is a clever attempt to try and clean up your faulty photography science, perovskites themselves are largely experimental. Commercial solar panels are still largely silicon.
And photography works not because of any unique ability of silver to absorb light. Silver doesn't absorb light any better than iron. Photography was based on the photoiniated redox chemistry of silver salts which is different than light harvesting.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
.
Yes, the photosynthesis technique works for nature. But I suspect it will always be limited in efficiency.
I predict that, eventually, the solar power industry will come around to the use of silver due to its light sensitivity and potential for much higher power conversion efficiency (PCE).
.
You really don't understand silver. Silver is not "light sensitive" any more than any other metal. Silver salts did photo chemistry which was a one time chemical conversion. You can't reuse film.
There are many different nanoparticles, including silver, that can harvest light. But it's arguable that silver is better at it than any other metal.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Silver at $78 an ounce is causing industrial users to rapidly look for alternatives. The recent price increases scream BUBBLE!
And it's not "photosynthesis". They are organic semiconductors not chlorophyll.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
.
Silver compounds (silver halides) are used in photographic film. Copper is not a functional substitute in photography.
Abstract
Ag/Bi halide double salts, also called rudorffites, constitute a promising path to achieve low-cost, high-efficiency lead-free optoelectronic devices, in particular solar cells. These materials present tunable gaps within the visible range, high short-circuit currents, and interesting efficiencies in outdoor and indoor devices.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/solr.202200718?msockid=3baf36d9b7e56d900da92060b67f6ca9
.
The future; Brought to you by silver. > @jmlanzaf said:
So everyone will send in their cell phones.
Silver is built into the infrastructure. Most of it can never be recycled.
Yes. It's an attractive time to take some profits but most people don't own silver to sell. Any time the buyers are lined up is a good time to sell. But i doubt many are going to take the slim pickings and run. There just isn't as much silver as people think there is. It's already been melted and made into infrastructure and products.
If you weren't obsessed with trying to create silver cells that don't exist, you could also find thousands of other combinations.
Multi-juntion III-V semiconductors have reached near 50% efficiency. Single junction silicon is in the mid 20s. No one will EVER use a silver cell with 30% efficiency based on cost. Cost is why silicon is still used and III-V options which have been adding for 30 years has not replaced it. It is also the reason why the interest in organic semiconductors because they have the potential to be cheaper.
There is nothing unique about silver that will lead it to replace silicon. And that becomes even more true as the price of silver climbs. You will end up with zero silver in solar cells.
If this speculation is what's driving the price of silver, there is going to be an ugly crash in the future.
I know. It's different this time.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
You continue to ignore economics. The more expensive silver becomes, the more it will be replaced. I still have not seen one application of silver that required only silver to do the job. I don't think getting your science from precious metal sites is going to give you a clear picture of the actual science.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
.
I already pointed out (several times) what is unique about silver halides: sensitivity to light.
This is being investigated for solar cells. It makes sense that silver might eventually be the most efficient way to capture solar energy. Studies to improve efficiency are on-going.
.
That is NOT unique to silver halides. As I have responded several times, the reason it was used for photography was not it's "unique sensitivity " to light. It was the CHEMISTRY initiated by the light absorption. The ONE WAY chemistry initiated by the originally very inefficient light absorption created a latent image of silver metal.
Again, you don't understand the processes involved. Silver halide quantum efficiency is NOT higher than silicon. They are both near 100% in the range of light absorbed. And silicon absorbs virtually the entire visible spectrum. Silver halide has a higher bandgap (1.8 eV) compared to silicon (1.12 eV) so it doesn't absorb the whole solar spectrum.
There is nothing special about silver which is why lead perovskites kick silver perovskites ass. And neither of them are in commercial use, other than maybe NASA, due to cost. Silicon is cheaper.
You can create other materials and move the bandgap around as well as try to engineer more efficient electron- hole separation and minimize defects. But there is NOTHING UNIQUE TO SILVER.
[Side note: there's a reason, poor light absorption, why the original silver films required minutes long exposures. The light absorption was enhanced with "sensitizers", organic light harvesters, and size restriction to expand the absorption range to include the entire visible range in the modern period. And, no, that won't easily help with solar cells due to optical bleaching. ]
And if I must say it, I studied III-V semiconductors in graduate school and did a post- doc at Kodak studying silver halide photo- sensitization.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Just the start of a long term rally in silver. This one has caught a lot of collectors off guard.
Successful BST with drddm, BustDMs, Pnies20, lkeigwin, pursuitofliberty, Bullsitter, felinfoel, SPalladino
$5 Type Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/u-s-coins/type-sets/half-eagle-type-set-circulation-strikes-1795-1929/album/344192
CBH Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/everyman-collections/everyman-half-dollars/everyman-capped-bust-half-dollars-1807-1839/album/345572
Hit $79.27 now. Rolls are getting expensive with a $29 per half dollar value.
Successful BST with drddm, BustDMs, Pnies20, lkeigwin, pursuitofliberty, Bullsitter, felinfoel, SPalladino
$5 Type Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/u-s-coins/type-sets/half-eagle-type-set-circulation-strikes-1795-1929/album/344192
CBH Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/everyman-collections/everyman-half-dollars/everyman-capped-bust-half-dollars-1807-1839/album/345572
.
Why are silver halides being studied for photon capture in solar power generation ?
Traditional solar cells were very inefficient early-on, but they improved.
Even the best ones are still less than 50% efficiency, however.
Silver perovskites are not very efficient now.
But they (or something similar) may eventually exceed the efficiency of other technologies.
We shall see.
PS: Durability and flexibility (of the panel) are also important in addition to pure efficiency.
.
Some have sold early and have now devoted their lives to lengthy bearish comments. "10% up? Better hop on the US Coin Forum and defend my life decisions." 😂😂😂
Dealers are getting caught off guard tonight. I see 1960's silver proof sets at $45 and they have $49 worth of silver in them. Same with some graded Morgan's and Peace Dollars. They have $61.50 melt value and are being sold around $70 on dealers sites.
Successful BST with drddm, BustDMs, Pnies20, lkeigwin, pursuitofliberty, Bullsitter, felinfoel, SPalladino
$5 Type Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/u-s-coins/type-sets/half-eagle-type-set-circulation-strikes-1795-1929/album/344192
CBH Set https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/everyman-collections/everyman-half-dollars/everyman-capped-bust-half-dollars-1807-1839/album/345572
My local (small refiner) said back in late Oct. that much of the refined gold/gutter currently underway was headed to Italy. RGDS!
The whole worlds off its rocker, buy Gold™.
BOOMIN!™
Wooooha! Did someone just say it's officially "TACO™" Tuesday????
Retiring at 55, what day is today?
I've been worried about sellers not shipping. It's got to be annoying to sell at one price and ship at another.
I am curious about what happens to PCGS values as the price of silver goes up and will probably eventually drop back down.
For Morgan dollars a few months back well circulated type had a PCGS guide of $38, today it is $67.
Finally happy I got through life's speed bumps and kept my better bullion. I was once sad to have stacks of 5oz ATB sourced direct in their boxes from the Mint. Certain it was dead money as it was year after year dead money. Hated idea of breaking even. Now I wonder what it will take to cash out ? $400 is interesting, but the demand is global.
Silver is unique. Wiki;
Silver is similar in its physical and chemical properties to its two vertical neighbours in group 11 of the periodic table: copper, and gold. Its 47 electrons are arranged in the configuration [Kr]4d105s1, similarly to copper ([Ar]3d104s1) and gold ([Xe]4f145d106s1); group 11 is one of the few groups in the d-block which has a completely consistent set of electron configurations.[14] This distinctive electron configuration, with a single electron in the highest occupied s subshell over a filled d subshell, accounts for many of the singular properties of metallic silver.[15]
These are hardly all the facts but it's a good start;
https://www.claddaghdesign.com/blogs/jewelry/75-silver-facts
Sold more today at $77 and will sell more in early January. I stated my life decision at $35 per ounce and have executed it as planned with no regrets and no need to justify it. I have no regrets for what I sold or what I still hold. I don't care if it goes to $200 or ounce. I'll gladly sell all the way up until it's gone. You make the plan, you execute the plan.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Good luck getting $67. Hard to even get melt for circulated commons.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Congratulations, you're at the 3rd week of general chemistry. The unique property of the platinum group metals is that they are found unalloyed in nature. That is, by the way, the only reason they became "precious metals". Iron was much more useful, but could only be made useful when primitive man learned to refine metals. Gold and silver were shiny and could be picked up in stream beds.
None of that has anything to do with solar energy conversion, but at least you're trying to learn something. Or maybe trying to find a reason to justify the conceived notion you already have.
Zinc and Magnesium also have "unique" properties unrelated to solar energy.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
.
Native silver is somewhat rare (compared to silver sulfides, etc).
When pieces of native silver appear in stream beds, they are usually dull gray, not "bright and shiny".
No need for that.
.
I think the problem is what you said makes absolute common sense....but if an LCS or dealer has one of the coins I described above and it's at a 5% or 10% or even 15% premium to gold but they may have to wait a few days or weeks or even a month to sell it....or they can just get bullion value TODAY....if they really need the $$$, they would consider it. Yeah, they are leaving some $$$ on the table but if they need it today.....
And if they bought the coin a while back or at a good price and are still somewhat making a profit selling it for melt....no harm, no foul (from their perspective).
You see these 10 ounce gold or silver special commemoratives (maybe they have even larger ones)....they often command premiums of 20-50%....even if the price of gold doesn't move and you have to realize a 30% loss, if you need the $$$ you're gonna consider it. Those things can be VERY difficult to sell at times.
Back in junior high one of the teachers said that gold is the only metal without isotopes. Chemistry is a fascinating area, somehow a lot less fascinating for most as you start studying esoteric and complicated areas of the subject such as organic chemistry.
"Bright and shiny" meaning metallic looking.
I think there's definitely a need for some general chemistry. For example, you said "flexible" panels were good even though silver halide isn't remotely flexible. You want flexible, then you're back to organic semiconductors.
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Actually, a lot of students prefer organic chemistry. It's very structural and geometric. Of course, some people also hate it for the same reason.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
I have a retired computer programmer friend who loved the Copi book on logic; of all the courses I took that, "modern algebra" the abstract course, as well as "physical chemistry" bored me to tears. I liked the macro courses focused on top to bottom human experience. Like astronomy--one of the most physically beautiful courses, but as a career, not so much. My parents wanted me to meet Van de Kamp at the Sproul observatory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_van_de_Kamp An accomplished scientist but it turned out that his discovery of "Barnard's star" planet was found to be due to the optics that were assembled and disassembled periodically!
That's kind of how I ended up in chemistry. Physics was more interesting to me, but I could never see how i could do it as a career. Not just astrophysics, a lot of physics seemed interested in esoteric questions that I couldn't relate to as an 18 year old. At least with chemistry, we were making things and I could relate to the value of things like pharmaceuticals.
Lol. Of course, in retrospect, if i knew i was going to end up an academic, I might have opted for social sciences instead. I always thought it was easier to make that relatable to a half- interested student. At this point in my career, I actual find the psychology/ neuroscience of learning more interesting than any actual subject in teaching. I've occasionally told students that my course feels like a psychology experiment to me.
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Oh, and science is messy. I had a friend in grad school who defended his thesis and graduated. 6 months later, another student in the group discovered that his whole thesis work was due to an impurity in his protein and not the protein itself. Oh well, he's still Dr. O'Neill.
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@wondercoin - I’m very curious on your thoughts about first spouse gold coins. I seem to recall you alluding to having anecdotal evidence of some of them being melted years ago. Do you think these will largely disappear?
Wait'll you get older and it will feel like your whole life is an experiment.
Cameonut2011: Going back to the first few years of the program, I recall published reports of the melting of thousands of pieces. That was 15+ years ago! Obviously, there were more meltings from there. Especially with these coins trading below spot for many years now, it is likely to get harder and harder in the future to assemble a complete set of these coins in any grade, let alone perfect 70 and with the “First Strike” designation.
Wondercoin.
With corporate greed if replacing silver is possible it would have been done last month or the month before.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
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No, native silver in a stream bed is dull gray and does not look "bright or shiny or metallic" at all - unless is has been freshly scraped by a rock.
Glass is generally considered to be inflexible, but fiber optic cables are made of it, and they can bend.
These types of comments won't garner you any admiration.
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The current price of silver is $19.67 in inflation-adjusted January 1980 dollars.
The current price of silver is $7.83 in inflation-adjusted 1964 dollars.
All things considered, silver still looks cheap to me.
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A complete First Spouse set is already out of reach for a huge majority of collectors, with a gold value of about $100,000 for unc. or proof, and $200,000 for both. If the price of gold keeps rising, I doubt that the series will ever be worth much more than their bullion value, no matter how many are melted.
Overdate: You are right about the value of these coins now. You may recall, my plan from about 15+ years ago was to build 10 complete sets of Spouse MS/Proof (when prices were “cheap”) and then wait for the numismatic value to kick in. Proves it is better to be lucky than smart. Didn’t get to build all ten, but I got a few. Didn’t see much in the way of numismatic value rising, but have seen what the base metal rising can do to prices!
Wondercoin.
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I thought the winners would be the "Liberty" 4-coin subset of classic obverse designs. Most of them did fetch a premium for a while, but that premium all but vanished as the gold price ramped up.
But that assumes that gold prices stay high. I do think the prices will go back down eventually.
That seems unlikely but gold could be at 5,000 when a loaf of bread is $50.
A lot of all silver is in coins, medals, and a few tokens. A lot of the rest are in small coin-like silver bars. If any or all of this becomes seen to be an ideal way to store silver this might be how most of the artefact silver from before 2050 survives. Almost any nice collectible example of anything might be of great interest to collectors.
There sure are a lot of interesting options open to young people today even if opportunities may be reduced.
With the run-up of precious metal prices, I am surprised as of late to see fewer and fewer offered for sale particulary the APE's and Spouses. I had though the considerably higher bullion prices would shake a bunch of these loose. A recent-today-check on the GC site shows zero spouses and a smattering of APE's listed. As for 'first strike' pieces-which seem to be most popular especially for the spouse issues-it is tough to locate these other than a very few dates for quite some time.
Dealers that buy them are cashing out immediately and sending them to the refiners. No dealer that buys these for 98% of spot is putting them in the case when spot gold can drop $200 in a day, nor sending them for auction given the fees and uncertainty.
Nothing is as expensive as free money.
Most dealers can't even offer a small premium for better stuff because everyone is selling. Even his regular buyers are using the time to sell a little. Instead of our dregs being sent off to refineries its much more random. It's the grind of machinery.
As a chemist, I don't consider metallic to mean "shiny". Malleability would be the key difference between the platinum metals and any of the metal minerals. For example, pyrite is shiny but brittle. That made it easy to make jewelry out of silver and gold in its native state but impossible to make bronze swords until they learned to refine the minerals.
You can't bend silver halide, it's a crystalline material not a glass.
Was i looking for admiration? I'm just trying to limit the disinformation.
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It is an economics issue more than a technology issue. It's a different process. You can't just dump copper into your silver line. You need to reconfigure the process so it has to be economically cost effective to reconfigure your production line. I don't know what that price point is, but every $ rise in silver gets you closer to it.
Copper is not quite as good as silver either, so you also have to balance the performance penalty to the price difference.
It's actually very similar to the transition to Palladium in catalytic converters. It was always possible to use either, but until platinum was near $1000 and Palladium was half that that they reconfigured the manufacturing process. [Ironically, not long after, Palladium got ahead of platinum. Lol. ]
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Telephoned the local coin shop 11 days ago. Lots of notes, nice chat.
They pay less for any slabbed USA bullion than they pay for same in original government package.
Without OGP costs seller $25 a pop.
Less than zero premium for slabbed 70's on down no matter who certified it/them as they pay below spot.
Plastic not so fantastic ?
Also they are no longer buying silver jewelry.
98% spot on American Silver Eagles. They used to pay $6 a pop over spot.
5oz ATB $3 under spot times 5 ounces = $15 under. No OGP ? Less $25 so spot minus $40 a puck.
Was plus $30 & 5 ounces spot.
In the meantime I saw new EV quick charge battery tech will use 1 kilo silver per EV.
Kilo ATM sell is at $2,700 ish at $77 ish ounce.
Buffalo 24k 98% spot. No OGP less $25.
Was spot plus $100 each & OGPs were not required or desired.