What Kind of Colloidal Silver Should You Look For?
- Peter L. Reynolds Ph.D.
- Apr 22, 2015
- 3 min read
Criteria
Exhibits a super-Tyndall effect
Particles are uniformly charged and small enough to remain suspended
Concentration fits within the window of 15 ppm to 30 ppm
Discussion
Super-Tyndall Effect
Silver in a molecular suspension is usually toxic. On the other hand, silver in a microheterogeneous suspension can cause argyria, a condition where silver is deposited as a heavy metal and a permanent discoloration may occur. In either case, too small particles or too large particles, there is a risk.
As explained in more detail in the post, Colloidal Silver: What's The Tyndall Effect?, a nineteenth century scientist named John Tyndall was the first to identify a narrow band of liquid suspensions in which light was scattered, known as the Tyndall effect. These suspensions that scatter the light are known as colloids. A weak Tyndall effect suggests that only a small portion of the suspension is colloidal. The stronger the Tyndall effect, the more of the suspension is colloidal. Some colloids exhibit such a profound Tyndall effect, even normal room lighting is adequate to observe the effect. In these cases the suspension is likely almost entirely colloidal. These colloids of silver exhibit a Super Tyndall Effect and are considered the highest quality.
Super-Tyndall effect colloids with high parts per million (ppm), will only look transparent when the light source is directly behind the suspension, shining into the viewer's eyes. Otherwise, at other angles of light, they will look translucent (meaning: cloudy - remember, you can't see the particles because they're too small). Thus, the colloid will change from transparent to translucent and back again simply by changing the angle of light.
Charged Particles and Size
High quality colloids of silver owe their stability to like-electrically-charged particles (silver ions, ionic silver) (click to read: What Does Colloidal Mean? Part 1 for more details). Such charged particles repel each other like same-pole magnets. If the size (mass) of the particles is small enough, the pull of gravity will be less than the repelling force and the particles can remain suspended indefinitely. If the particle size is too large, the pull of gravity will be greater than the repelling force and the particles will eventually settle to the bottom of the container. Some low-grade colloidal silvers with particles that are too large use stabilizers (such as gelatin, egg-white, starch, fruit juices, etc.) to slow the settling in order to appear to be stable. Don't be fooled by this slight-of-hand practice. Concentration Window
In order to avoid silver toxicity as much as possible, keeping the colloidal silver concentration at or below 30 ppm seems to work the best. On the other hand, colloidal silver concentrations from 15 ppm and above are 100% effective at killing all the members of organisms being studied. Below 15 ppm, not all of the members of the organisms are killed and thus are able to recover and proliferate. Therefore, the window of colloidal silver concentrations from 15 ppm to 30 ppm seems to be the best because these concentrations avoid silver toxicity while retaining the 100% effectiveness.
Conclusion
Only colloids of silver which fit all three criteria will truly be safe and effective. Otherwise, safety, effectiveness or both may be in jeopardy. Don't settle for colloids of silver that meet less than all three of the criteria! Your own well being and those you care about may be harmed by using a low quality colloidal silver that only meets one or two, or less, of the criteria.
Click here or the image to buy the best colloidal silver, Super Tyndall Effect.
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