Watch An Artist Instantly Create A Mirror With Liquid Silver Nitrate

Watch An Artist Instantly Create A Mirror With Liquid Silver Nitrate

Video: Although mirrors have been around for thousands of years, a German chemist named Justus von Liebig made a breakthrough that would make the modern manufacture of them possible. Add some sugar to ammoniated silver nitrate, pour it onto glass, and blammo: You have yourself a mirror.

Gif source: Instagram / Dave Smith

It’s slightly more complicated than that, if only because silver nitrate is highly poisonous. But artist Dave Smith makes it look easy in this recent Instagram post:

Creating a mirror using Silver Nitrate with @nikglas_ This shows the chemical reaction once it is poured onto the glass. A warm workshop and also warm containers of liquid during winter months work the best, summer time is even better for making mirrors.

A post shared by David A Smith (@davesmithartist) on

Here’s a clearer view of the finished product:

The process looks even cooler when Smith pours the liquid metal substance onto glue-chipped glass, producing beautiful patterns:

Science is cool! So is art!


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.