A Morgan Dollar can save your life
I first thought this was unbelievable, but this is true. It sounds like something out of a western but a Morgan Dollar can be used to purify water.
This is the only coin in history that literally saved lives. It was made of 0.900 silver from the mines in Nevada. This silver purified the water that the American cowboys drank. This was done by the cowboys dropping the Morgan Dollar into their canteen at the later part of the 19th century. This still works today if you need it to.
source
This fascinated me when I first saw it. I doubt I would have a Morgan Dollar around if I am stranded somewhere, but its nice to know that it could save me. Morgan Dollars were minted from 1878–1904 and 1921. So there are still a lot out there to collect. Happy hunting.
1921 Morgan Dollar 8:40 pm on June 25, 2011 Permalink |
I had no idea. So I’m curious how silver itself can purify water. Also, when we’re talking purification, are we only talking impurities like metals or acids in the water binding to the silver? I’m guessing that bacteria / protozoa is still an issue there. I doubt that the silver content will affect items like this. I’m also wondering about the silver content itself.. do you need that much or will a silver quarter be enough to do the trick.
Very interesting stuff!
MD
Eliot 10:24 pm on June 27, 2011 Permalink |
Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. An except from Wikipedia is below:
Silver nanoparticles are excellent anti-bacterial material and they can decompose toxic halo-organic compounds such as pesticides into non-toxic organic products.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_purification
Morgan Dollars 12:48 am on September 28, 2011 Permalink |
I was just telling a friend about this post the other day. I wanted to see if there was a response to my comment. My bad, that I didn’t notice this. Thanks so much for the wikipedia link!!! I’m still blown away that this actually works.
Take care.
MD
Eliot 12:15 am on October 1, 2011 Permalink |
You’re welcome! I always love cool facts like this. Remembering things like this could save your life someday. You never know.