Not silver(I) oxide. Silver(I) oxide, when formed in water, is not black, but dirty brown. This is hydrous silver(I) oxide. And indeed, ascorbate is a
sufficiently strong reductor to reduce silver(I) to metallic silver. It also is capable of reducing copper(II) to copper(I).
With bleach you get silver(I) chloride, but you can get a black compound, silver(I) silver(III) oxide, AgAgO2. Hypochlorite is a very strong alkaline
oxidizer and it is capable to oxidize silver to its +3 oxidation state. In this oxidation state it hydrolyses at once and forms a mixed oxidation
state oxide. |