Hi Jason, I don't know what to believe about colloidal vs. ionic silver. I am continuing to research it, and testimonials like yours are of great interest to me. If ionic works, then what I'm reading must not be true. Here is some of what I've read. Any comments on it would be welcome. Summer
<<The Truth about Ionic SilverMost products claiming to be colloidal silver are in fact mostly ionic silver solutions. Notice how many products advertised as colloidal silver even mention the words ionic silver in their literature or specify what percentage of the total silver in their product is silver ions vs silver particles. They don't bother to tell you that their product is mostly ionic silver, not silver particles. The fact is, most such products only contain between 1% to 20% (10% typical) of their silver content in the form of silver particles with the majority 80% to 99% in the form of ionic silver. Why is this important? Because a true silver colloid consists of silver particles, not ions. Colloidal silver is commonly ingested to kill bacteria and other pathogens. Inside the human body ionic silver quickly changes to silver chloride which has no ability to kill pathogens. Only the silver particles can survive inside the body to kill bacteria and pathogens. What is ionic silver?Ionic silver is not the same as metallic silver. For example, metallic silver is not water soluble (does not dissolve in water) but ionic silver is water soluble (it does dissolve in water). Technically speaking, a silver ion is an atom of silver that is missing one electron. It is the outermost electrons of an atom that determine the physical properties of matter. Take away one electron from a silver atom and you get a silver ion which is water soluble. In its ionic form, silver is highly reactive with other elements which means it will readily combine to form compounds. Ingestion of highly concentrated forms of ionic silver is known to cause <A HREF="http://www.silver-colloids.com/Papers/definitions.html#argyria";> argyria,</A> a permanent discoloration of the skin.For those who are interested in the more technical aspects and want to understand the technical terms involved, see the extensive <A HREF="http://www.silver-colloids.com/Papers/definitions.html";>Definition of Terms</A>. Also see the <A HREF="http://www.silver-colloids.com/Papers/FAQ.html";>FAQ</A> for answers to common questions about ionic silver.What is important to know about silver chloride?Silver chloride is a compound that is formed when silver ions combine with chloride ions. It is an insoluble compound which means once it is formed in the human body, it remains as a compound and does not dissolve. The human body is filled with an enormous amount of chloride ions, in fact chloride is the single most prominent anion in the human body owing to high levels of sodium and potassium chloride. Silver ions and chloride ions have such a strong attraction for each other that it is almost impossible to keep them apart. Once they find each other they form the silver chloride compound. Because ionic silver forms silver chloride inside the human body it cannot exist as a ionic silver for more than a few seconds. This means that the ionic silver content of colloidal silver products will turn into silver chloride once inside the body leaving only the metallic silver particles to circulate in the blood stream to kill pathogens. Silver chloride has no antibacterial properties, it is a useless waste product which the body expels. What about silver particles?Metallic silver particles are unaffected by chloride ions and will circulate in the bloodstream where they work their magic and kill pathogens they encounter. The particles will slowly be eliminated from the body and do not build up. Since it is the particles that do the important work of killing bacteria and other pathogens, it is important to know how much of the colloidal silver product is in the form of particles. The nanometer size particles of metallic silver that comprise Mesosilver will not cause <A HREF="http://www.silver-colloids.com/Papers/definitions.html#argyria";>argyria.</A>How to determine how much of the products is actually silver particles.A typical colloidal silver product that is 10 ppm (parts per million) of total silver has 90% of the silver in ionic form and only 10% in particle form. That means you are getting only 1 ppm of silver particles in a product advertised as 10 ppm. That is assuming 10% particles. The products that are only 1% particles, would yield only 0.1 ppm of particles. It is easy to see that for the greatest effectiveness you want to look for a product that has most of the silver content in the form of particles not ions.How can you tell looking at the product if it is mostly ionic silver?Colloidal silver that is mostly ionic silver looks just like water. It is clear because silver that is dissolved in water looks just like sugar or salt that is dissolved in water; it looks just like water. Colloidal silver that has a high concentration of silver particles does not look like water because silver particles, even very small particles block light from passing through, making the liquid appear darker. The producers of ionic silver solution will tell you that colloidal silver should look like water. That is because that is what their product looks like. They just don't know how to make a true colloid.Why are some many products mostly ionic silver? Because ionic is silver is very simple to make. So simple, in fact, a child can do it. All it takes to make ionic silver is a nine volt battery and some silver wire. It is simplicity in the extreme. Most producers do not use a nine volt battery, but a high voltage AC source because it makes a more stable ionic solution. The high voltage AC product is just as simple to make, but takes a little more equipment. In either case, the process is a form of electrolysis. The electrolysis process produces mostly ionic silver and is the process by which the vast majority of companies are producing what they call colloidal silver, but in fact it is mostly an ionic silver solution. It is just like calling a drink orange juice when it only contains 10% real orange juice and 90% something else. Regardless of claims made to contrary, if the product is made by electrolysis, it not a true colloid, it is mostly ionic silver. By comparison a true colloid has a high concentration of particles and little or no ionic silver. To make a true colloid is difficult in the extreme. That is why there are so many ionic silver products and only one Mesosilver. To find out the actual ionic silver content of selected products see the <A HREF="http://www.silver-colloids.com/Reports/reports.html";>Product Reports</A> section of the <A HREF="http://www.silver-colloids.com/";>www.silver-colloids.com</A> website. Remember, if it looks like water, it is ionic silver, not a true colloidal silver.But that is not the whole story!While it is easy to understand why the percentage of silver particles is important, that is only half the story. Of additional importance is the size of the particles. For a given concentration of silver particles, the total surface area of the particles goes up as the size of the particles gets smaller. It is the total particle surface area that determines the overall effectiveness of a colloid. In this context, effectiveness is defined as the ability of the colloid to interact with its environment. The more surface area of silver that is exposed to the environment (bloodstream and pathogens) the more effective it will be. >>
