Silver has been used to make tableware, jewelry, and figurines throughout history. While silver has always been a coveted precious metal, it has seen a resurgence in recent years, partly due to its price and value. However, many people have wondered whether silver can crack.

Pure silver is soft and malleable, which means it can bend, crack, and break. However, pure silver is alloyed with other metals, typically copper, to create sterling silver. Generally, sterling silver contains 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. Unlike pure silver, sterling silver will not crack or break.

If you want to know more about why pure silver can crack while sterling silver won’t break, we’ll break down everything you want to know. You’ll even find out how to keep your silver in pristine condition and how to tell real silver apart from knockoffs!

Does Silver Crack?

In its purest form, silver is a beautiful metal that suffers from minimal tarnish. However, Pure silver is notoriously soft and malleable, which makes it difficult for silver to be shaped correctly. Ultimately, the properties of pure silver and fine silver (which is 99.9% pure) make it an impractical metal to use to make items with specific shapes or will be used daily.

Earrings and necklaces are two jewelry items for which fine silver can be used. Fine silver is used because it remains highly resistant to tarnish. Furthermore, earrings and necklaces are items that aren’t frequently bumped and scratched. However, if you were to drop or bump earrings or necklaces made from fine silver, there’s a good chance it will bend, crack, or break.

Now, if you used pure or fine silver for jewelry items prone to bumps and scratches, the jewelry would easily bend, crack, and break – especially if the silver is not blended with a stronger metal. Luckily, fine silver can be strengthened by alloying it with other metals. Alloying is a common process used to increase the strength of precious metals.

Fine silver is frequently alloyed with copper, which creates sterling silver with a composition of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper. Of course, this is the reason you’ll often see “925” stamped into sterling silver jewelry, indicating the percentage of fine silver used. Copper is commonly used because it makes the silver harder and more durable without compromising the color.

While copper is perhaps the most common metal that silver is alloyed with, it isn’t the only metal used for this process. Nickel and other metals may also be used to strengthen pure silver. Unlike jewelry made from fine silver, jewelry made from sterling silver is not brittle. While sterling silver jewelry can warp, you’ll be able to repair it since sterling silver doesn’t crack or break easily.

While sterling silver is unlikely to crack or break, it tarnishes when exposed to salty air, humidity, sweat, chlorine, sulfur, cosmetics, and household cleaning chemicals. When sterling silver tarnishes, it will become discolored due to a surface layer of tarnish, which darkens the appearance of silver. Luckily, there are great ways to prevent silver from tarnishing over time!

How To Prevent Silver From Tarnishing

You might be surprised to learn that tarnish is one of the signs indicating an item is made from real silver! While tarnish will not affect the metal content of the sterling silver item, the value of the item can be affected. Furthermore, excessive cleaning due to tarnishing can damage sterling silver pieces. Ultimately, that’s the reason it’s so important to prevent your silver from tarnishing.

Remove Tarnish From Silver Items


If you notice sterling silver items have become tarnished, you should use silver polish to remove the black coating from your silver jewelry. There are many great tarnish-polishing creams available today. However, you can also opt to take your sterling silver items to a local jeweler for professional cleaning and polishing.  

Limit Exposure To Certain Chemicals

As we explained earlier, sterling silver will tarnish when exposed to certain chemicals. To limit exposure to these chemicals, you should safely store your jewelry while performing household chores, bathing, swimming, using cosmetic products, exercising, or preparing meals. Doing this will ensure you limit exposure to chemicals that cause tarnishing.

Don’t Leave Silver Jewelry Lying Around

This tip goes together with the one discussed above. When you take off your sterling silver jewelry, you shouldn’t let your jewelry lie around. Even small amounts of exposure to moisture and air can cause your jewelry to tarnish over time. When not wearing your sterling silver pieces, they should be properly stored.

Properly Store Silver Pieces

Since sterling silver tarnishes when exposed to air, it’s crucial that you store your jewelry correctly. To keep your pieces in pristine condition, they should be separated and wrapped individually. You can even purchase a silver tarnish cloth to store your items. When storing jewelry, copper should be kept away from silver items, as it can also tarnish silver.

Regularly Use A Polishing Cloth

Polishing cloths are a great way of keeping your silver pieces in great condition. Whenever you notice a sterling silver item is starting to lose its luster, you can use a polishing cloth to restore the silvery shine. These polishing cloths are specially designed for silver items. You can purchase a polishing cloth online or from a local jeweler.

Have Your Silver Pieces Plated

Many silver items are plated to prevent them from tarnishing. Rhodium is commonly used for plating silver. This process, known as flashing, functions like a protective coating on your jewelry. While the coating will eventually wear off, items can be re-plated as desired.

Conclusion

In its purest form, silver is rather soft and malleable, which can result in it cracking or breaking. Due to this, fine silver is often alloyed with copper to create sterling silver, the most common type of silver used for jewelry. Unlike pure or fine silver, sterling silver is not brittle and will not bend, crack, or break.

Sources:

Similar Posts