Great
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Lead in Silver Nitrate stick? (What does AgNO3 taste like?)
Hello ya'll. I recently got the inside of my nostril cauterized with Silver Nitrate, a wonderfully painful experience that noone should ever miss out
on. However, something I've noticed several hours afterwards is a sweet taste in my throat, like as if micrograms of sugar were slowly introduced
from.... somewhere. This description seems reminiscent of older documents when people would taste test salts for lead, and indeed, the Romans used the
salts of which for sweeteners. Now this has got me concerned... Was there lead in the Silver Nitrate? My friend handled everything, and I can't help
but wonder. What does Silver Nitrate taste like?
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Sulaiman
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With current regulations and liabilities, I doubt that there is any lead in the medical grade silver nitrate.
(but I do not trust pharmaceutical corporate priorities)
(products like 'Grecian 2000' were reported as containing lead acetate and some vaccines still contain mercury I believe)
I've not yet learned the art of chemical analysis by taste
not many teachers around, most are dead now 
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crazyboy
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From what I found silver nitrate is described as having an acrid or metallic taste not a sweet taste, however, some silver salts such as silver
sodium thiosulfate and silver hyposulfite do apparently have a sweet taste. Perhaps it was contaminated with one of these salts?
[Edited on 11-2-2016 by crazyboy]
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Sulaiman
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OK, I admit that when I was a complete noob (almost two years ago  I not only got
silver nitrate on my hands, I did not wash sufficiently and got a bitter metallic taste, as described above.
Since then I have deliberately drunk home made 'colloidal silver' which tastes metallic but not bitter/sweet/salty/umami
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Praxichys
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I'm sure medical preparations of silver nitrate probably have more than just silver nitrate in them. There are probably pH buffers, viscosity and
surface tension modifiers to help with even application, humectants to ensure isotonicity, and potentially preservatives to keep all of that stuff
fresh.
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annaandherdad
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Just don't take too much, or you'll get argyria. See
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyria
for a photo. I know a nurse who had a patient (a woman) with argyria.
Any other SF Bay chemists?
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ave369
Eastern European Lady of Mad Science
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Argyria is not harmful for your health, it only damages your appearance.
Smells like ammonia....
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fluorescence
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Well you could test it for lead. The question is apart from say neurotoxins how many simple inorganic salts are capable of killing or harming you in
these small quantities. Even if lead was in there I doubt that it would harm you especially since you don't use it that often. And I don't think that
it will be in there. So many silver salts are really insoluble it would be quite easy to get a clear sample for medical use. I often buy medical grade
chemicals and they cost alot. Some simple Chlorides, Bromides and whatsoever are like 10 times the price you would pay for technical grade stuff. So I
really expect them to test for lead. But if you are unsure you could make a colorimetric test for lead.
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Stbrnrd
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Unfortunately I once had the misfortune of "tasting" AgNO3 and from what I recall, it was a very bitter but more "metallic" of a taste; perhaps
because of the portion of the tongue that came in contact with it. I had a tooth pulled (bottom canine) but the doc "accidentally" had cut my lip
with the tool he was using in the process, so they cauterized the cut with silver niterate. It ended up spreading onto my gums, and tongue, and the
dark-brown spots lasted for weeks before they fell off (picked off more like it) . I actually don't recommend that to any one, but 30 years ago, in
an underdeveloped 3rd-world country...that was better than to "let it heal" .
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