Cleaning silver with citric acid is not always possible. For example, you shouldn't use acidic lemon juice to clean opaque gemstones because the citric acid in lemon juice can damage these dark gems. Also, you shouldn't use acidic lemon juice to clean delicate jewels.
If you need clean silver now, pour lemon juice over the tarnished pieces. Polish with a soft, clean cotton cloth. The acid begins cleaning as soon as it hits the silver's surface. Rubbing it around only strengthens its cleaning power.
Besides being an excellent remedy against bad smells and the ideal way to clean an oven, you can also use lemons to clean your jewelry. Dip a toothbrush in lemon juice and gently scrub your silver. It will quickly regain its natural shine.
Lemon juice is incredibly acidic. While this might be okay for sturdier jewelry, for anything soft or plated, you're asking for trouble. It's too abrasive for your delicate jewelry and you'll end up with chips, scratches, and discoloration. Don't weaken your jewelry with lemon juice.
Silver tarnishes faster in areas with high humidity and air pollution. Chemicals like hairspray, perfume, deodorant, body lotion, bleach, etc., can speed up the tarnishing process.
Cleaning silver with vinegar is safe for your silver, you, and the environment, and it's great for bringing back the sparkle. Vinegar is a natural cleaner, disinfectant, and deodorizer that is tough on tarnish. Here's how to polish silver and get back that sparkling shine with vinegar and baking soda.
Silver is stable in pure air and water, though it tarnishes quickly when exposed to air that contains elevated levels of ozone, hydrogen sulfide or sulfur. (In the past 200 years, the amount of sulfur in the atmosphere has increased, so silver tarnishes more quickly than it did in pre-Industrial times.)
Yes, it's OK to put lemon in a stainless steel water bottle because the material has anti-corrosive properties, letting it withstand most acidic substances. Stainless steel forms a passive corrosion product layer to protect the drinking bottle from lemon's potential acidic damage.
Lemon juice will not damage a water bottle manufactured from stainless steel. However, you should never use a water bottle made from any metal that may become rusty with a lemon drink. The acidity of lemon juice makes it able to dissolve any rust present.
Moreover, lemon juice is considered to be highly corrosive. If lemon juice comes into an extensive contact with the metals or metallic containers (even metals like stainless steel quality), containers can lead to micro-particle metal leaching.
Thanks to its natural acidity, using lemon as a homemade jewelry cleaner helps remove the oxide layer which forms on metals over time, causing it to darken. By simply applying lemon juice all over your jewels and rubbing the pieces with a dry cloth, the lemon will naturally brighten up your pieces.
For silver, citric acid is highly effective at removing oxidation.
Clean Silver with Dish Soap and Water
The key to cleaning silver without damaging it is to avoid abrasion. Cleaning silver with harsh abrasive products like chlorine bleach, or storing it using rubber bands and newspaper, is a no-no.
When silver is exposed to sulfur-containing gases in the air, it discolours and then darkens as it reacts with the gas to form a surface layer of tarnish.
Lemon juice.
Mix one part water and one part lemon juice to create a soak for your jewelry. Place item in the bowl for 10-15 minutes.
Lemon juice has a very low pH of 2, meaning that it is highly acidic and corrosive.
The acid in lemon juice also works to remove tarnish. “I'd recommend using just a tablespoon of lemon juice concentrate to 1 1/2 cups water,” Reichert says. “You can also dip your silver into lemon soda and it will come out sparkling.
Use a soft cloth or cotton ball and pour lemon juice on it. Then dip it in the ash and start rubbing your silver clean. Once your silver is tarnish free, rinse it and dry it.
Thanks to a lemon's powerful natural acid, it can quickly remove heat stains and streaks from stainless steel. To do this, simply grab a cleaning cloth and soak it with freshly squeezed lemon juice. Then, scrub your item with the cloth until all of the marks have vanished.
Foods that are acidic, such as tomatoes or foods that contain lemon juice or vinegar, should not be cooked in reactive cookware. Aluminum, copper, iron, and non-stainless steel are reactive cookware. Their surfaces will release atoms of metal into the food and can give the food an off taste or discoloration.
In museums, important collections of silver are cleaned of tarnish using a slurry made of specific abrasives such as precipitated calcium carbonate (chalk) and water, applied with cotton or soft cloths.
Even though it is a noble metal, silver will corrode in ambient atmospheres, predominantly by reacting with sulfur-containing gases such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbonyl sulfide (OCS) to form the silver sulfide (Ag2S) acanthite.
Prevention of chemical tarnishing is achieved by using barriers such as lacquers to prevent the reactive chemical species contacting the silver. In the V&A, silver objects are routinely lacquered with a cellulose nitrate-based lacquer after cleaning.