Before the advent of digital photography, which is now dominant, the photosensitivity of silver halides was exploited for use in traditional film photography. Since silver is more reactive than gold, supplies of native silver were much more limited than those of gold.

Jeremiah 6:19–20) Jeremiah was also aware of sheet silver, exemplifying the malleability and ductility of the metal: "Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men. In its most characteristic reaction, silver azide decomposes explosively, releasing nitrogen gas: given the photosensitivity of silver salts, this behaviour may be induced by shining a light on its crystals. One drawback is the easy tarnishing of silver in the presence of hydrogen sulfide and its derivatives. There is not an extensive amount of data focused on how marine life is affected by silver despite the likely deleterious effects it could have on organisms through bioaccumulation, association with particulate matters, and sorption. However, silver fluoride and silver nitrate are caustic and can cause tissue damage, resulting in gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, falling blood pressure, cramps, paralysis, and respiratory arrest.Printed circuits and RFID antennas are made with silver paints, [12] [117] Powdered silver and its alloys are used in paste preparations for conductor layers and electrodes, ceramic capacitors, and other ceramic components. Traditional Indian and Pakistani dishes sometimes include decorative silver foil known as vark, [126] and in various other cultures, silver dragée are used to decorate cakes, cookies, and other dessert items. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products.

The Greek poet Hesiod's Works and Days (lines 109–201) lists different ages of man named after metals like gold, silver, bronze and iron to account for successive ages of humanity. Most other silver minerals are silver pnictides or chalcogenides; they are generally lustrous semiconductors.Ag–C σ bonds may also be formed by silver(I), like copper(I) and gold(I), but the simple alkyls and aryls of silver(I) are even less stable than those of copper(I) (which tend to explode under ambient conditions). Today, Peru and Mexico are still among the primary silver producers, but the distribution of silver production around the world is quite balanced and about one-fifth of the silver supply comes from recycling instead of new production. Including precious metals such as palladium, platinum, and gold gives resistance to tarnishing but is quite costly; base metals like zinc, cadmium, silicon, and germanium do not totally prevent corrosion and tend to affect the lustre and colour of the alloy. The origins of silver production in India, China, and Japan were almost certainly equally ancient, but are not well-documented due to their great age. Panáček, Aleš; Kvítek, Libor; Smékalová, Monika; Večeřová, Renata; Kolář, Milan; Röderová, Magdalena; Dyčka, Filip; Šebela, Marek; Prucek, Robert; Tomanec, Ondřej; Zbořil, Radek (January 2018).