silver dollar and water

[kd5txx]

Ok, I know it is a long shot, but....I was looking through a magazine and it said people used to put silver dollars in water to kill bacteria and make it safe to drink... Anyone know the facts? How long do you leave it....etc.. I'm serious

 

[festiva_ford]

Sounds interesting! What time period did people do this in?

 

[goldencoin]

Silver is an excellent antimicrobial agent, it is actually used in some of those hand sanitizing gels. It's also the reason that cutlery was silver or silver plated. I'm not sure how long it would take a chunk of silver to kill bacteria, but perhaps a good "stirring" with the coin would kill a lot. But it probably isn't the best way to purify water

HH
-GC

 

[coolpix9]

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Silver-Is-Able-To-Kill-Bacteria&id=302206

 

[Yinzi50]

Silver is toxic to lower organisms. Before the advent of modern antibiotics, silver is widely used for killing bacteria. Sailors would throw a piece of silver dollar in the water bucket on their ship so to keep the water from spoiled through the whole journey.
A modern day usage is to add silver chloride in the cement so the whole building won't grow fungus or moulds. But a house like this is too expensive for most people.