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Why would you reasonably expect cadmium to be a contaminant in zinc but not in silver?

1 Answer

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Cadmium is an element that usually forms a Cd2+ ion just like Zn2+.

Silver commonly forms the univalent, Ag+ ion, so it could not directly replace Zn2+ in ores and you will have to read up on this, most heavy metal mining firms have silver, lead, zinc operations; these are very common mixtures of ores. So, the cadmium is more likely to be the contaminant in zinc than in silver.

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User Bryan Rowe
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