Shining Silver Tea Accoutrements Science Experiment

Do you love to polish silver as much as I? It's got to be one of the most thankless jobs in my opinion. My silver tea accoutrements had badly tarnished with lack of use. Since I wanted to use them in celebration of National Hot Tea Month, something had to be done! Time for a science experiment! I had the children help me gather the necessary items: Baking pan large enough to immerse my silver items, Aluminium foil, pan of hot water and baking soda. This scientific experiment is explained at: http://scifun.chem.wisc.edu.HomeExpts/TARNISH.html The baking soda/aluminium combo pulls the sulfur off the siver by a small electrolytic currrent set up through the "salt bridge". Silver and aluminium love to accept sulfur but aluminium does it quicker and will pull the atoms off the item as long as the electrolytic current remains. Reversing the chemical reaction this way leaves ALL the silver intact - rubbing with abrasives and silver cleaner actually removes silver!