Question

What is silver used for?

Answer 1

Silver is an unreactive metal, it does not react with air, heat and is considered as a noble metal, as the filled $4d$ shell is not very effective in shielding the electrostatic forces of attraction from the nucleus to the outermost $5s$ electron, and also silver is almost at the bottom of electrochemical series.

Complete answer:
Silver (Ag), atomic number $47$ is a soft, lustrous transition metal that exhibits the highest electrical and thermal conductivity.
Most silver compounds have a covalent character due to their small size and first high ionization energy.
Silver is widely used in manufacturing jewelry and other general used items like cutlery etc.
Silver-plated glass is used for mirrors.
One of the drawbacks of silver is the tarnishing of silver in the presence of hydrogen sulfide. To remove the sulfide tarnish, silver items are brought in contact with aluminium foil and at the same time immersed in water containing a conducting salt.
Silver has antibacterial properties. Silver is also incorporated into wound dressings and used as antibiotic coating. Silver sulfadiazine is used in external infections. But the bacteria can however develop resistance to the antimicrobial action of the silver.
Silver foils and bulk silver are used to make vacuum tubes and also used in manufacture of semiconductor devices and circuits.
Silver is also used in manufacturing of chemical equipment on account of its low chemical and high thermal conductivity.
Silver metal acts as a good catalyst for oxidation reactions, pure silver metal is used in food coloring.
Colorless silver chloride films were used in radiation detectors. Colloidal silver is used to disinfect the closed swimming pools.

Note:
Silver is resistant to corrosion as silver cannot be oxidized easily, because when silver is exposed to air a tarnished layer of silver sulphide is formed on the surface of the silver which prevents it from oxidation and corrosion. Moreover, among all the metals silver is the best conductor of electricity.