To understand the differences between so-called "true colloidal silver," nanosilver and ionic silver you first have to grasp the simple fact that the term "colloidal silver" is an umbrella term covering many different types of liquid antimicrobial silver products, such as:
Ionic silver – extremely small, positively charged atoms or molecules of silver in a colloidal suspension
Metallic silver – bare metal silver particles averaging 100 nm or larger, in a colloidal suspension
Nanosilver – bare metal silver particles averaging less than 100 nm in size, in a colloidal suspension
Mild Silver Protein – bare metal particles of silver complexed with denatured protein such as casein, in a colloidal suspension
Silver Citrate – ionic silver complexed with citric acid, in a colloidal suspension
While there are some pretty big differences between each of these forms of colloidal silver, the main thing to remember is that they're all "colloidal" in nature.
That is to say, they're all composed of relatively small particles of one form of silver or another, suspended homogenously and indefinitely in water. They're not dissolved in the water. They're tiny, submicroscopic particles of silver suspended in the water.
What makes each of these forms of colloidal silver different is how they're produced and how they work inside the human body.
So in the remainder of this article we're going to examine those two crucial factors carefully. But for the sake of time, we're only going to look at the two most popular forms of colloidal silver, i.e., the ionic form and the metallic form.
The Differences Between Ionic Silver and Metallic Silver
The two main types of colloidal silver vying for the spotlight today are the ionic form, and the metallic form. And it's around these two forms of colloidal silver that most of the controversy swirls. So we'll take a good hard look at the differences between these two forms of colloidal silver, below.
The ionic form of colloidal silver is the most common form sold in health food stores today.
Indeed, it's been the #1 best-selling form of colloidal silver for over 100 years, and it continues to be the bestselling form of colloidal silver to this very day.
The metallic form of colloidal silver is the second most common form sold in health food stores today. It can also be referred to as nanoparticle silver, but only if the metallic silver particles it's composed of are less than 100 nm in size on average.