HistoScientific wrote:

> Dear Netters,
>
> I recently visited a large histology research laboratory where they mix
> deionized salt (yes, Morton's table salt) with their Silver Nitrate
> waste and dump it down the drain.  They swear that it neutralizes the
> Silver Nitrate waste.  Is this true?
> Tom Galati
> Histo-Scientific Research Labs.
> 107 Killmon Road
> P.O. Box 30
> Basye, VA  22810
> (540)856-2222
> fax: (540)856-2227
> histosci@shentel.net

    This sounds bogus to me, what reaction is occuring between NaCl (with a
little iodine) and AgNO3?? Even if Silver chloride or silver iodide are
formed, silver is still present. Nitrates aren't good for the environment,
either.
    Treating silver nitrate with "fixer", thiosulfate salts, does not
neutralize the silver, it just dissolves it from the film or paper.  Some
people reclaim silver from used fixer.
    A call to Kodak (1-800-242-2424) might shed some light on this. Or
maybe John Kiernan remembers more photochemistry than I do.

Geoff
--
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Geoff McAuliffe, Ph.D.
Neuroscience and Cell Biology
Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854
voice: (732)-235-4583; fax: -4029
mcauliff@umdnj.edu
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