Removing Silver Nitrate Stains: Tips and Tricks

[Pengwuino]

Bah! damn this stuff!

Anyone know how to get silver nitrate off your hands? I was thinking of finding a photography store and see if they have any chemicals since i know its something photo...people...whatever... use :). Any suggestions? help? cut off flipper?

 

[Cyrus]

Lick it off, OR, wipe it off in ur crotch. (make sure it burns first though)

Thread Locked.

 

[Pengwuino]

The second i closed the window, i thought to myself "that loser cyrusabdollahi probably has made a joke in my thread already". I come back and who woulda thunk it!

Ban cyrusabdollahi! that shall be my campaign slogan!

 

[moose]

Some people use silver nitrate to remove warts O_O

A quick google search says to wash your hands with table salt.

 

[Pengwuino]

A quick google search says to wash your hands with table salt.

Yah that ain't going to do anything. Our lab manual says it'll takes weeks or months for the skin to replace it and that there's no bleach or amount of scrubbing that can get it off.

 

[Cyrus]

Joke? I'm not joking. Lick it off, you woman. Isn't there a policy against letting people like you into labs?

 

[moose]

Cut off flipper.

 

[Pengwuino]

you're all out of my will

 

[Cyrus]

You are going to die soon? Finally...I thought this day would never come. You can keep your rancid bookshelves to yourself.

 

[Astronuc]

MSDS - Silver Nitrate - Poisonous. Causes burns. Long-term exposure can cause permanent blue-grey staining of eyes, mouth, throat and skin, (argyria) and may cause eye damage. Short contact can lead to deposition of black silver stains on the skin. Very destructive of mucous membranes. Skin and eye irritant. Experimental equivocal tumorigenic agent. ( from physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/SI/silver_nitrate.html )

But from the EPA - Silver nitrate is a non-food-use active ingredient that is not toxic to humans. Applicators are instructed to use gloves to protect against contact with the skin because silver nitrate can discolor skin. http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/ingredients/factsheets/factsheet_072503.htm

Try salt water as moose suggested.

Or you could use sulfuric acid or NaOH, but only if you wish to remove your skin.

Don't worry about the discoloration - it only lasts about a week or so. In my experience, it is a brown discoloration of the skin.

 

[Gale]

you two are so cute with your bickering all the time. pengwuino, i bet if you ask nice, cyrus will lick it off for you.

 

[Pengwuino]

a salt water solution kinda helped i think. We were using 0.1M silver nitrate and my thumb looks like it's been up something bad. I can't live with this stain!

 

[Astronuc]

you two are so cute with your bickering all the time. pengwuino, i bet if you ask nice, cyrus will lick it off for you.

I was thinking that the camaraderie and mutual admiration expressed by pengwuino and cyrus is so touching and a real credit to PF. They are an inspiration to us all!

 

[Moonbear]

MSDS - Silver Nitrate - Poisonous. Causes burns. Long-term exposure can cause permanent blue-grey staining of eyes, mouth, throat and skin, (argyria) and may cause eye damage. Short contact can lead to deposition of black silver stains on the skin. Very destructive of mucous membranes. Skin and eye irritant. Experimental equivocal tumorigenic agent. ( from physchem.ox.ac.uk/MSDS/SI/silver_nitrate.html )

But from the EPA - Silver nitrate is a non-food-use active ingredient that is not toxic to humans. Applicators are instructed to use gloves to protect against contact with the skin because silver nitrate can discolor skin. http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/biopesticides/ingredients/factsheets/factsheet_072503.htm

MSDS sheets usually make things sound worse than they are. You should read the MSDS for ordinary table salt.

Silver nitrate is what they used to put in newborn's eyes to prevent infections. It is irritating, but obviously not horrendously so.

Don't worry about the discoloration - it only lasts about a week or so. In my experience, it is a brown discoloration of the skin.

I think every student of chemistry has had a run-in with silver nitrate at some point. It only takes one messy person in the class to get the outside of the bottle coated with it for everyone else who picks it up. The light stains only lasted about a week. I recall it took a fair bit longer for the student in my high school chemistry class who spilled it all over his hands. But, that was back in the 80s when Michael Jackson and wearing one glove were popular, so that's what we suggested that student do. :rofl: I don't think you could get away with that anymore.

 

[Moonbear]

you two are so cute with your bickering all the time. pengwuino, i bet if you ask nice, cyrus will lick it off for you.

Makes you wonder when they're finally going to tie the knot, eh?

 

[Cyrus]

Makes you wonder when they're finally going to tie the knot, eh?

You really don't want those crab cakes do you??

 

[Moonbear]

You really don't want those crab cakes do you??

Don't need them anymore...a friend of mine is going to send me a recipe so I can make my own! You better go back to the chocolate bribes.

 

[Evo]

Cyrus! Send me Moonbear's crabcakes!

Of course, as Doc Toxyn :!) knows, I can't resist Alaskan King Crab Legs. That is without question, the one food I will do ANYTHING for. And he had them served to me by Adrian Paul. :!) :!) :!)

I love you Doc Toxyn!

 

[Moonbear]

a salt water solution kinda helped i think. We were using 0.1M silver nitrate and my thumb looks like it's been up something bad. I can't live with this stain!

You could try sucking on your thumb. It won't make the stain go away any faster, but it'll hide it.

 

[Mk]

Hmm, the last time I worked with silver nitrate I didn't know it would have any ill affects on you. I guess it does, and I guess I didn't touch it.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Maybe you could cover yourself with it and say it's a tan?

 

[moose]

Decorate it with various pens and claim that it's a battle scar.

 

[turbo]

I think every student of chemistry has had a run-in with silver nitrate at some point. It only takes one messy person in the class to get the outside of the bottle coated with it for everyone else who picks it up. The light stains only lasted about a week. I recall it took a fair bit longer for the student in my high school chemistry class who spilled it all over his hands. But, that was back in the 80s when Michael Jackson and wearing one glove were popular, so that's what we suggested that student do. :rofl: I don't think you could get away with that anymore.

My high school lab partner was a cutie with a penchant for practical jokes. She got kind of frisky one day and soaked me pretty good with with the Nalgene squirt bottle. I grabbed another Nalgene bottle off our lab station that was full of Silver Nitrate solution and squirted her legs. That was in the mid-60's, when the dress code mandated skirts for girls. She had to wear opaque tights for over a week instead of nylons. A nice bohemian look, though.

 

[DocToxyn]

Pengwuino,
Get a tattoo, they cover up just about anything. Or else spill something even more obvious on your shirt and no one will notice the yellow on your hands.

 

[DocToxyn]

Cyrus! Send me Moonbear's crabcakes!

Of course, as Doc Toxyn :!) knows, I can't resist Alaskan King Crab Legs. That is without question, the one food I will do ANYTHING for. And he had them served to me by Adrian Paul. :!) :!) :!)

I love you Doc Toxyn!

Ahhh, those were the days. Say, it's about time I dusted that pic off...here you go again, Evo.
http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/47f5d367e9.jpg

 

[carebear1216]

I have silver nitrate on my NOSE.

okay i was having two bloody noses a day. every day. for some time and it turned out it was because of some constant bleeding vessels in my the septem of my nose. both sides were cauderized (however you spell that) with silver nitrate. The doc must have touched the outside of my nose with the chemicals because there is a brown spot that looks like an ugly birth mark. also.. it appears that blood is coming out my nose, when its not, which is gross, because he also got some right on the ridge of my nostril. haha so is this a burn? does it come off? or am i going to look like i have mud shooting out my nose all week. :(

 

[~christina~]

Yah that ain't going to do anything. Our lab manual says it'll takes weeks or months for the skin to replace it and that there's no bleach or amount of scrubbing that can get it off.

Aint that true...my lab notebook is all brown from that stuff. shakes head*

my lab also had those pour spouts for the silver nitrate and it got on my sneakers as well.
now I can say "that's no ordinary stain! it's silver nitrate!" LOL

but something that wasn't funny was how I got a brown spot on my hands after I touched the table in a room all the way down the hall from the lab, how did it travel all the way there?..well I had it for a month or so.

seriously though, don't you use gloves??

 

[Danger]

am i going to look like i have mud shooting out my nose all week. :(

Just tell everybody that you stifled a fart with adverse results.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

Bah! damn this stuff!

Anyone know how to get silver nitrate off your hands? I was thinking of finding a photography store and see if they have any chemicals since i know its something photo...people...whatever... use :). Any suggestions? help? cut off flipper?

It's burnt into your flipper, short of: if thine flipper offends thee cut it off as you say, you're kinda screwed.

Or you could get a tattoo to cover it up?

 

[tribdog]

You ever seen that tarnish-x stuff? Would that have any effect?

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

You ever seen that tarnish-x stuff? Would that have any effect?

Nah I think it's chemically bonded with your skin so you'd have to use an organic acid, and that I wouldn't recommend.

 

[Math Jeans]

My lab-mate spilled some HF on himself the other day. Any suggestions?

 

[jim mcnamara]

You ever seen that tarnish-x stuff? Would that have any effect?

Only if you are silver plated to start with. A new movie: silverfinger. Better than silverfish.

 

[lisab]

My lab-mate spilled some HF on himself the other day. Any suggestions?

Oi! What the heck are you doing messing with hydrofluoric acid without proper PPE? (Ooooooo, I like using the "Oi!" from the OP!)

 

[Math Jeans]

Oi! What the heck are you doing messing with hydrofluoric acid without proper PPE? (Ooooooo, I like using the "Oi!" from the OP!)

Calm down. We are supposed to be using it. It was only 5% solution. geez