MAGIC Silver Polish!

Have you seen those magic silver polishing things on TV? Some metallic slab that you put in a bucket of water and all the tarnish on your silver magically disappears? Well it's not magic and you don't need to buy anything. I can pretty much guarantee you have everything you need in your kitchen right now.

The "magic" is really ion exchange. Take a piece of aluminum foil and put it in the bottom of a heat resistant dish. Boil some water and add some salt and a spoonful or two of baking soda. Put the silver item in the dish on the aluminum foil (so they touch) and then add the liquid. The tarnish will disappear in a few minutes!

How does this work? I had to look it up, but essentially the tarnish is when the silver reacts with air to form a coating of silver sulfide, which is black. Silver polishes are abrasive and remove a layer of silver with the tarnish. But it is possible to turn the silver sulfide back into silver! With baking soda and aluminum! This works because aluminum has a higher affinity for sulfur than does silver. When you dip tarnished silver in the baking soda solution, the sulfur atoms are liberated from the silver and are transfered to the aluminum. Heating the water simply speeds the process.

Do you have any idea what chemicals are in silver polish? Me neither. I'd much rather go with a solution that is non-toxic, cheaper and much easier.