The Uses of Silver

Often referred to as “poor man’s gold,” silver has, perhaps a little unfairly, been relegated to playing second fiddle behind its shiny yellow counterpart. But the noble metal has a lot to offer to the world beyond its extensive use in jewelry and investment, as we’re about to find out.

We’ve previously spoken about gold and precious metals, but silver deserves a special mention. Silver is one of the most important elements on Earth, and one of the most useful metals in modern-day society. Silver’s immense electrical and thermal conducting properties are perfect for electrical uses, making it highly in-demand in our heavily technology-based world. Whether you realize it or not, silver plays a huge role in our everyday life, and we’ll take a look at where and how.

About Silver Metal

Silver is considered a precious metal, and along with gold, platinum, and palladium makes up the top 4 in terms of usage and value. Silver has a soft, white, lustrous appearance, and is mined from the Earth’s crust. Silver exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal, and as you’ll read below, that comes in handy in plenty of applications!

The Use of Silver

Silver has been used for centuries in jewelry, dining ware, and currency, but it can do so much more!

Silver is used in over 10,000 industrial applications – from microchips to microwaves.

Electronics – Silver is an integral component in electrical switches that power your electronics and is widely used in high-end electronic devices, printed circuits, and audio/video components.

Medicine - Silver is an antimicrobial substance and is used widely in the medical field for coating and dressing on surgical equipment. And, of course millions of people have silver fillings in their teeth.

Solar Panels – The growing solar energy industry is driving demand for silver, which is used in the photo-voltaic cells of the panels that capture light. This demand is projected to increase.

Mirrors – Mirror-mirror on the wall, gold may be the fairest metal of them all, but silver is behind it all. It doesn’t just hang on your wall, it’s also used in state-of-the-art telescopes in far out space!

and many many more!

The Value of Silver

There is approximately 17x more silver in the world than gold, but it’s recycled at a much lower rate, limiting its supply alongside mined sources. Because 70% of the supply of silver is a byproduct of the production of copper, lead and zinc, global production affects the price of silver. Silver is susceptible to conditions in the manufacturing industry and business activity among companies who use it, thus price fluctuations are common.

All these things considered, trading silver is quite different from gold, but it’s part of what makes this metal so distinct and interesting for traders.

Margined Forex, CFD and Metals trading are leveraged products and can result in losses that exceed deposits. The value of your contract can fall as well as rise, which could result in receiving back less than you originally deposited. Please ensure you understand the risks and be sure to manage your risk exposure effectively. Equiti does not provide any investment advice.

About the author

The author is an expert in the field of multi-asset trading.