Random Question About Silver

I am sure a Google search can get me some info but I wanted to ask some silver experts here.

I was looking over my collection and it just occurred to me.. why are almost all silver rounds or any silver composed of .999 or .9999 (I guess that extra 9 is a whole other conversation)?
Why isn't there a coin made of 100% silver? Is there? Does the metal composition have to NOT be 100% in order for the coin to work?

I am sure it's not the price. An extra .1 oz of silver would raise the cost like a penny! :lol:

Is it a sales gimmick? Better look on a coin to have '.999' on it? I don't get it! Haha

 

The .001 would be made of minute amounts of impurities that can't be removed/worth the effort.

 

No machine is calibrated to 100%, normally done to around 0.01-0.001 accurate depending on the application.
Also it would take so much more refining to remove the trace elements the price would go through the roof. If at all possible to remove all trace elements.

Someone feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

 

That's not a random question... now your name... 'that's random

 

Good question.

You have an excellent point. At 99.9% or 99.99% it's close enough to simply be rounded up to 100% as that's what is pretty much is. The impurities at that point are negligible and seeking to "justify" something simply because it is tradition makes no sense. Previously refining to the degree we can currently was impossible but today achieving beyond 99.99% has already been done.

I agree at that level why not say it's 100%, nothing esoteric about it.

 

for the same reason that they say on ads for germ killers killing 99.99... % of germs. because there is no sure way to prove it... and as such, you can't say 100%

 

There may be a way to purify silver to 100% but as at least 1 other member noted, it would take very special equipment and the cost would prob be through the roof for a gram of it.

For me, 90% silver coins are good, Sterling Silver coins are good (.925), and all purities higher than Sterling as well are all acceptable purity.

I would bet back when the first silver coins were made (when silver was actually money because it functioned like money), their purity was less than 90%. I didn't Google that but my point is, the .999 is probably a more modern designation thanks to high tech equipment.



.

 

ive seen 99999 Fine Silver thats close enough

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjsncNdVz-s[/youtube]

 

100% is an academic concept, pure math.

However in the real world, e.g outside the academia, there is no such thing as 100% purity or 100% security or 100% guarantee or 100% safety or 100% risk free ect.

 

That's True. Particularly as silver oxidizes so seconds after it was refined then touching a coin or exposing it at to the air would bring it down to some fraction of a percent less than 100%.

 

Thanks for all your responses! And I'm glad I didn't get any rude snarky comments. I was afraid that might happen after I submitted the post haha.

Anyway, it does seem like the answer is the obvious one. You simply can't have 100% of anything in the real world.

I like what Clawhammer said. I always knew products use 99.99% of germs cause they literally can't kill them all. There will always be one germ haha. And I guess that's the same for silver!

But to me that's so miniscule! To say there will be a small trace of oxidation, some metal, or anything.. so we have to use .999, is dumb haha.

To me it's 100% silver and that's how I refer to it to my non stacking friends. When I show them my rounds I don't say, it's my .999 silver coin haha. I say it's 'pure silver' haha!

 

I'm sure you are, but just a reminder to be careful of what you share with whom -- especially if you don't store off-site.

 

I think it is a sales gimmick, like hey, we are the most pure.

Is there really that much difference between a silver canadian maple and an american silver eagle?

They're pretty much the same.