Reactions
A typical reaction with silver nitrate is to suspend a rod of copper in a solution of silver nitrate and leave it for a few hours. The silver nitrate reacts with copper to form hairlike crystals of silver metal and a blue solution of copper nitrate:
- 2 AgNO3 + Cu → Cu(NO3)2 + 2 Ag
Silver nitrate(aq) also decomposes(g) when heated:
- 2 AgNO3 → 2 Ag + O2 + 2 NO2
Most metal nitrates thermally decompose to the respective oxides, but silver oxide decomposes at a lower temperature than silver nitrate, so the decomposition of silver nitrate yields elemental silver instead.
Read more about this topic: Silver Nitrate
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