Silver
chemical element with symbol Ag and atomic number 47
Silver is a chemical element; it has symbol Ag (from Latin argentum) and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and reflectivity of any metal. Silver is found in the Earth's crust in the pure, free elemental form ("native silver"), as an alloy with gold and other metals, and in minerals such as acanthite, argentite and chlorargyrite. Most silver is recovered as a byproduct of lead–zinc, copper and gold mining and refining.
Silver has long been valued as a precious metal and coinage metal. It is one of the seven metals of antiquity, and has had an enduring role in monetary systems, jewellery, tableware and decorative arts. Its purity is commonly measured on a per-mille basis; a 94%-pure alloy is described as "0.940 fine". Because pure silver is relatively soft, silver used in jewellery, coinage and household objects is often alloyed with copper or other metals.
Beyond currency and investment uses such as coins and bullion, silver is an important industrial material. It is used in photovoltaics, electrical contacts and conductors, printed electronics, brazing alloys, catalysis, specialised mirrors and window coatings, and antimicrobial materials.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Silver” is chemical element with symbol Ag and atomic number 47. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Silver, chemical and element, not as a finished interpretation.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1090. The Library of Congress control number is sh85122588. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Silver” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.