Sterling Silver
Alloys · Uncommon · Medieval
Pure silver is too soft for most practical applications. Sterling silver adds 7.5% copper to create an alloy hard enough for cutlery, jewelry, and tableware while retaining silver's beauty and antimicrobial properties.
Identity
Physical Properties
- Appearance
- Bright white-silver, slightly warmer tone than pure silver, tarnishes to a dark grey-black patina
- Luster
- Metallic
- Density
- 10.4 g/cm³
- Melting point
- 893 °C
- Boiling point
- 1900 °C
- Lighter
- Molybdenum
- Denser
- Silver
- Magnetism
- Non-magnetic
- Electrical conductivity
- Very High
Mechanical Properties
- Mohs hardness
- 2.5
- Tensile strength
- 290 MPa
- Softer
- Tin
- Harder
- Brass
- Workability
- Easy
- Brittleness
- Tough
- Malleability
- High
- Ductility
- High
Chemical Properties
- Corrosion resistance
- moderate
- Reactivity
- low
Lore & Narrative
The term 'sterling' may derive from the Old Norman French word esterlin, meaning 'little star', a reference to small stars stamped on Norman coins. English sterling silver coins became such a reliable standard that 'sterling' came to mean reliable quality in any context.
- Notable uses
- Jewelry, cutlery, tableware, musical instruments, photography
- Forge uses
- jewelry, cutlery, tableware, musical instruments
- Worldbuilding traits
- refined, standard, antimicrobial, tarnishing
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