Chapter Two: Explanation Of What Colloidal Silver Is
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The short answer is, it depends on who you are talking to. This is true, at least in terms of perception. The actual answer is that colloidal silver is colloidal-state silver particles in water. Most commonly and more to the point, aside from the many very technical considerations, it is simply silver mineral water, albeit in a very special physical state. Moreover, there is an abundance of types of forms of silver mineral water that are determined by factors such as the size of the nanoclusters, presence or lack of presence of ions, properties of the water such as ORP, pH and ionic materials and or state of the water itself.
Other factors can also affect the final product, these are factors that may occur both before the process of creating the colloid is applied as well as afterward, which may directly affect the resulting changes in the condition of the dispersion medium (water) as a result of the process used to create the colloid, as well as the colloidal material itself.
There is a synergistic relationship between the silver nanoclusters and the dispersion medium. In short, from a very technical standpoint; it is possible to have literally thousands if not millions of different forms of colloidal silver, which is determined in part by the above-mentioned issues and other technical and theoretical issues that we will present in a proper forum at a proper time.
In the early 1900s if you asked a doctor what colloidal silver is, he would likely respond that it is a medicine. If you ask the average person today what colloidal silver is, they might say it is a dietary supplement, or they might just wrinkle their forehead and shrug their shoulders to confirm that they don’t know.
If you have read the previous chapter, then you have come to realize that colloidal silver is defined as clusters of atoms (particles) that are approximately 1 nanometer to 1 micron in size, that are dispersed into a liquid. Although technically liquids other than water would still accurately describe colloidal silver, and the addition of proteins would also still qualify as a colloid and even compounds would qualify, but when we speak of colloidal silver we mean 1 nm to 1-micron silver particles in water specifically and no other additives. We will discuss ionic and other forms of silver at an appropriate juncture.
The term colloidal is said to have been coined in the late 1800’s by an English chemist named Thomas Graham. His designation of the colloidal state was an attempt to address the problem of the classification of matter and materials that did not work for all substances. For example, matter itself is normally classified as being in one of three states, solid liquid and gaseous. Certain substances defy conventional classification such as gels, tar, and jelly-like substances. The colloidal state sometimes referred to as the fourth state of matter was an attempt to provide a way to classify and scientifically deal with certain anomalous states/forms of matter and substances that otherwise lacked a proper technical treatment. Unfortunately, the term colloid, ever since that time, has been often been applied to substances that have anomalous attributes, defy normal categorization or were not fully understood.
Graham is usually associated with being the “father of colloid chemistry” but it should be noted that Faraday prepared and described “colloidal Gold” at least five years earlier than Graham.
Colloidal silver, zinc, copper, gold and other metals have been produced since the mid to late 1800s. An argument can easily be made that the history of silver as a medicinal goes much further back in time and includes ancient Egypt, Greece, Sumer and Mesopotamia.
Alfred B. Searle author of the book titled ” Colloids in Health and Disease” published in 1920, makes a comment that has always stood out in my mind. He says: “Consequently, there is much truth in the statement that a drug to be fully efficient must be in a colloidal state or convertible into it in the body of the subject.”
Mr. Searle also points out in the same book, that, Faraday prepared a pure colloidal gold in 1857, “but it was known in the middle ages though its most important properties were not realized. As early as 1885, it was largely in use in the United States as the basis of a cure for dipsomania,”
Dipsomania
A dipsomaniac is a person with an uncontrollable craving for alcohol, especially alcoholic liquors. – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
What colloidal silver is not.
Ion. — An ion is an atom or group of atoms that is not electrically neutral but instead carries a positive or negative electric charge. Positive ions are formed when neutral atoms or molecules lose valence electrons; negative ions are formed when they gain electrons.
Purely Ionic silver: Ionic silver is not accurately in a colloidal state, although ions are complimentary to the existence of the colloidal state.
It is also not the so-called mono-atomic (monoatomic) aka (monatomic) state.
Single silver atoms are about 0.288 nm in diameter. Silver in the ionic state is considered dissolved, which is not the same as the discrete state of particles as found in a colloid. The term colloidal dispersion is not accurate for a primarily ionic silver. That said, there is virtually always a ratio of silver ions present with silver particles that are in a true colloidal state, even if that amount is very small.
The issue of what constitutes actual colloidal silver can be confusing because of the technical nature of the science, as evidenced by the previous chapter. The problem of conveying what true colloidal silver is may be further hindered by the fact that the term colloidal silver has been used since the early 1900s to describe preparations that at times are not colloidal at all.
In many cases, it is due to the complexity of the science involved that inhibits clear distinctions. For example, markets such as the dietary industry, even when clear distinctions are made regarding their product, such as describing it as ionic, encounter a public that has come to equate all forms of silver and water as being described as colloidal silver. A search of google at this time for the keywords “colloidal silver’ produces 3,190,000 results. Any serious examination of even a portion of those pages proves this point.
The science to clearly define a true colloidal silver state, as well as the techniques to make true colloidal silver consistently and in a manner that is commercially viable, was developed initially in the early 1900s, though there were only a few sources for such a material during those early days, the current state of technology far outpaces the technology of that era, and although true colloidal silver is now more prevalent it may still be difficult to determine that is what you are getting.
There is still erroneous information regarding colloids found on the internet, even via otherwise reliable sources. This may be due to the fact that some advances are new enough that few are familiar with these developments, but as far as I can tell it most often results from very basic technical errors.
For example, color, such as golden to tea coloring of colloidal silver, in much of the past literature is said to be caused by oxides or impurities. With regard to true colloidal silver, this is simply not true, it is a matter of how light is absorbed and reflected. Another comment I recently saw somewhere was that colloidal state equates to particles that are a toxic heavy metal. Again, simply not true with regard to state-of-the-art colloidal silver. There are other misconceptions that we will address as we go.
Another problem that needs to be addressed, in prior times (1900s to recently) virtually any form of silver that was mixed or compounded with any liquid regardless of the true and accurate chemical and physical category has been referred to as colloidal silver, including ionic sols, compounds etc. It seems that the complexity of the issue made it much easier to deal with by lumping everything together under the term colloid, in order to deal with the anomalous state of the material. It seems that this may still be the case in many instances.
Products that are referred to as mono atomic silver is more likely in truth, ionic silver. We have not yet found a commercial product that actually scientifically meets the criteria of being in a monatomic state. David Hudson holds the patent for ORMES (Orbitally Rearranged Monoatomic Elements). Monoatomic and true stable colloidal particles are extremely difficult to produce. Furthermore because of the unusual properties that are not yet fully understood that are associated with ORMES, this causes problems with regard to dealing with even the most basic issues, such as testing and validation. We are not currently pursuing research associated with monoatomic silver.
Parts per million is a way of expressing how much silver there is. The total amount or weight is identified as parts per million (PPM). Parts per million is the same as milligrams per liter. Example 10 ppm is the same as 10 milligrams per liter.
The capillaries of the body are approximately 4-9 microns, much larger than colloidal silver, even if and after combining with proteins etc in the body. In theory, the body would not have a problem eliminating properly prepared electro-colloidal silver, even if large quantities of common concentrations such as 10 ppm were used. In instances where silver has been found to accumulate in humans, the silver particles that were found to have accumulated, usually are about 5 microns in size. There is no properly manufactured colloid of silver that is 5 microns in size, in fact, such particles are 500% larger than is allowed in order to meet the technically accurate description of a colloid. This is not to say one cannot produce such particles, but it is true that such particles are not truly a colloid and would not be manufactured by any professional due to the fact that they would not remain suspended without the addition of a protein, as well as a myriad of other technical concerns.
Silver micro-clusters, and water. i.e. mineral water, are larger than most molecules but smaller than cells.
The term Colloidal silver should only be attributed to an actual colloid, which is covered in the previous chapter.
As you may already know, the FDA made a final ruling in 1999 that colloidal silver is not legal in OTC products. This statement and ruling by the FDA has caused a lot of confusion due to its wording. In that ruling, the FDA said that over the counter sales are no longer allowed. Which specifically means pharmaceutical drugs. In other words, it is no longer legal to sell colloidal silver as a pharmaceutical drug over the counter of a pharmacy for medical treatment. However this same FDA ruling allows colloidal silver to be sold as a dietary supplement on the shelves of any store, and over the counter of any non-pharmaceutical merchant or the pages of any non-pharmaceutical classed product via any website etc.
This may sound strange, but that is what happened in 1999 with the FDA final ruling regarding colloidal silver. We will cover the legal-historical aspects of colloidal silver later.
Many people still think that colloidal silver is illegal, Ebay for instance, at the time of this writing, does not allow colloidal silver products to be sold on their website due to their interpretation of FDA rulings as having designated it as a public hazard and unsafe. While the reality is that it is perfectly legal anywhere in the United States to sell and use colloidal silver as a dietary supplement, so long as it has been manufactured to FDA CGMP standards.
The number of people who have used various products called colloidal silver regularly for many years, we estimate to be measured in the millions in the U.S.A. alone and many more worldwide.
Colloidal silver can be sold to the public as a dietary supplement if the manufacturer has met FDA, state and federal requirements for manufacturing food products such as CGMP (FDA established good manufacturing practices), as well as the label requirements of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) as well as all other State-specific permits, licensing and Federal requirements for manufacturing and product holding facilities.
This is a general description regarding the issues of products manufactured and sold in the U.S.A. as dietary supplements, requirements can be even more stringent and or restrictive in other countries, especially countries whose officials allow dietary supplement laws to be HARMONIZED with the Codex Alimentarius.
Harmonized to the Codex Alimentarius, it sounds like the Borg absorbing the beings of a planetary system into the collective, not so amusing to us is the fact that in many ways the so-called Codex really is like that. This is especially true with regard to the way that the protected rights of the individual sovereign people of free- states of a Republic are lost in favor of World-Government entities. It is very disturbing that such entities are appointing themselves as the collective-absolute-authority that decides what is best for us all collectively, globally, in all nations. The forces that Codex represent (pharmaceutical industries) enforce their will on all nations via trade sanctions, withholding of various funding and fines that are imposed on those leaders of Nations who dare to make choices contrary to and defy the lock-step dictates of the Codex. The constitution of the free people of the Republic of the United States is specifically against such forms of restriction of personal liberties. Our constitution and its preamble is designed to make such spurious authoritarian regulations illegal here, but these days such rights are now in question when such laws are in effect slipped in through the back-door of international trade via so-called executive agreements and similar treaties and laws.
The colloidal nature of nature
When a plant or animal consumes water, that water is then structured primarily into highly organized liquid crystals, very few of the water molecules consumed remain unorganized. Living things accomplish this by using highly charged colloidal particles, which form the nuclei around which the highly organized crystalline lattice forms. Silver, when it is in a colloidal state is known to absorb energy and emit energy, in the form of light. It is not a difficult stretch to make the correlation of this phenomena as being equated to the spark of life. That is not to say that what is occurring with colloidal silver and the associated phenomena is not isolated to colloidal silver.
In other words, all the cells of the body or other living things use “charged colloidal minerals in particular” to organize water molecules into a form that may set the stage for the basic building blocks of cells to form, as well as for other processes such as the function of DNA. The particles appear to form a foundation upon which to organize and build. We are mostly water by volume. Water is the greatest component from which cells form. We are made up of a multitude a various cells and cell types. Physically speaking, we are our cells, and our blood is a dynamically balanced colloidal system. Our cells serve us die and are replaced at an almost unimaginable rate every moment we are alive. In order to be healthy, our cells need the ingredients to do their job. Our cells work tirelessly, and only ask to be given what they need to do their job. Although this is a simplified explanation, you can easily speculate just how important colloidal minerals combined with water are to all living things.