Question

In the refining of the silver, the recovery of silver from silver nitrate solution involved displacement by copper metal. Write down the reaction involved.

Answer 1

Hint: In metallurgy, refining consists of purifying an impure metal. It is to be distinguished from other processes such as smelting and calcining in that those two involve a chemical change to the raw material, whereas in refining, the final material is usually identical chemically to the original one, only it is purer. Silver metal can be refined by using the electrolytic refining. When silver is found in ores containing copper then the electrolytic refining method is used to extract the silver in pure form.

Complete answer:
In the refining of the silver, silver nitrate and metallic copper will dissolve in the solution to form copper nitrate and this will precipitate the silver in the solution as metallic silver. The overall chemical reaction can be given as:
$2AgNO_{3}(aq) + Cu(s) \to 2Ag(s) + Cu(NO_{3})_{2}(aq)$
In this single-displacement reaction, silver nitrate will dissolve copper, producing elemental silver crystals. The dissolved silver ions in solution attract electrons from the copper, causing the copper to become dissolved copper ions. This is the presence of the dissolved copper ion $Cu^{2+}$ which is blue in color.

Note: Due to the high standards for silver in electronic uses, it is essential to control the behavior of the main impurities such as copper or palladium during the electrolytic refining.