Mike's Concerns

Don't believe everything you read. Some things get propagated and said often enough that they get general agreement. Does that make them true? With all due respect "The very best voltage for the reaction is 30 volts" I consider to be a common misconception that needs further explanation. Without an indication of distance between electrodes and temperature of solution this statement is useless. I can take 12 volts with close electrode spacing and get lots of dirty electrodes.

The point is the author doesn't take into account that the field gradient between the electrodes is determined by the distance between them and that this is more important than voltage. The shorter the distance between electrodes the higher the electric field and the electrodes get so called dirty faster. But, also the silver is put into solution proportionally faster. At higher temperature solution the electrodes get dirty faster. Did this author compare how long the solution lasts versus field gradient? I suspect not. I did some testing early on and I found that a low field gradient produced with low voltage and wide electrode spacing results in a colloidal solution where the silver falls out of solution faster. Each particle has less charge.

Mike